Review of Millbrook Resort, by John Borthwick

Chelsea Clinton is sometimes a woman of few words. But if actions speak louder than sound bites, she waxed eloquent about the spa facilities at Millbrook Resort and Country Club near Queenstown on New Zealand's South Island.

During their stay in 1999, Chelsea hit the spa and gym almost as much as dad Bill hit the golf course. The US President, according to reports, "spent practically every daylight hour on our course."

Leaving behind the nervous wreck world of cities and suits, you reach Millbrook via Queenstown: flying there is the easiest way, but the drive from Christchurch amid marzipanned alps and turquoise lakes is a truly spectacular journey. The resort seems to sit in a dish of diamonds, with snowy peaks glittering above its valley and brooks meandering beside the baize-green fairways. It's a seductive place - 200 ha of fresh air and birdsong are a pretty good start if you're in search of well-being.

Our suite-sized room opens onto a fairway to heaven. It's in a cluster of rustic buildings called the Village Inn; with its clever quoting of the look of 1870's gold miners' homes in nearby Arrowtown, the Inn's style might be called Designer Miner. Iron roofs, rich heritage colours and plenty of timber encompass plush rooms whose comforts include an emperor-size bed and a bathroom with a vast tub-for-two.

Despite the proximity of Millbrook's championship golf course, not to mention the ski slopes of Coronet Peak and Queenstown's heady cocktail of adrenaline sports, we head straight for the spa. Three full-time professional beauty therapists are there to pamper, pummel, knead and otherwise transform us from two pathetic "befores" (semi-stressed wrecks in denial of our condition) to balmy "afters" (like a couple of leaves floating out the door). It's an hour that both lasts forever and passes too soon. Later we try the outdoor hot tub (steaming waters and snow views!), the 25-metre heated pool (but who wants to do laps when you're feeling this languid?) and finally the sauna.