The Ultimate in Unwinding... Seven of the Best Spa Hotels in England by Ben Cooper
It’s January. The year may be new, but you feel worn out and bloated with Christmas excess. 2010 stretches away – a chasm of exercise and self-denial. There’s only one thing for it: leave the hair shirt for later and give in to one last bit of guilt-free indulgence with a weekend spa break.
And in this selection of spa hotels in England, the facilities may be ultra-modern, but the lodgings have got more than just a touch of class about them – making for a weekend of de-stressing and de-toxing in style.
Swinton Park; Ripon (Yorkshire)
Swinton Park is like stepping into the pages of PG Wodehouse’s Blandings saga: a handsome, ivy-clad 19th-century pile with swans strolling nonchalantly about the place; a flag waves from the crenellated tower; inside, stuffed animals eye you suspiciously from the walls of its grand corridors and drawing rooms.
While the spa facilities are fabulous (there’s a to-die-for treatment room), the real highlights are the grounds and a setting on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. For a brisk day’s walking and blowing away the Christmas cobwebs followed by a couple of hours soothing tired bodies in the spa, it simply can’t be beat.
(Prices from £196 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Swinton Park
Seaham Hall and Serenity Spa; Seaham (Co. Durham)
Seaham Hall is linked to its wonderful Serenity Spa by an underground tunnel, giving the journey a futuristic twist – and keeping you out of the wind howling in from the North Sea. Ultra-modern touches don’t end there, either; but while rooms are liberally dotted with gadgets and gizmos, it doesn’t come at the expense of an atmospheric country house stay.
(Prices from £268 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Seaham Hall and Serenity Spa
Charlton House; Shepton Mallet (Somerset)
Somerset’s one of those places that can be a little tricky to get to. But in the case of Charlton House, that really just adds to the whole ‘rural spa hotel’ experience. It’s supposed to be a weekend away after all. And when you get there, it’s worth it – no matter what your journey’s been like.
It’s an intimate set-up: made up of only a handful of rooms whose heavy four posters and lavish materials are offset by plenty of light, stylish touches. The spa, meanwhile, offers a wide range of treatments from facials and manicures to therapeutic body envelopment and lymphatic drainage.
(Prices from £120 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Charlton House
Cowley Manor; Cowley (Gloucestershire)
‘Flamboyance’ is very much the name of the game at Cowley Manor (as you’d expect from the sister hotel to Paris style pony, L’Hotel...) Its 30 rooms are all individually decorated with the sort of extravagant flourishes that would make even Christian Lacroix purr with pride.
The C.Side spa is more pared down. Sunken like a groovy Bond villain’s lair, its soft Cotswolds limestone and cold, hard-edged steel come together to great effect. A truly dizzying list of treatments runs the gamut from facials to holistic therapies, before reaching a climax with the divine Cloud 9 massage.
(Prices from £150 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Cowley Manor
Bishopstrow House; Warminster (Wiltshire)
Bishopstrow House is another striking, ivy-wrapped, straight-out-of-Jane-Austen sort of affair; inside, its rooms and (the vast majority of) its interiors are opulent and resoundingly traditional – in many cases, gloriously, unrepentantly so.
But like its Von Essen partner, Seaham House, it’s strong on both the stay and the spa fronts. In contrast to the hotel, the halcyon Spa is decidedly fashion-forward, while a Rasul mud therapy room (an ancient Arabic treatment involving mineral-rich mud) is the headline act amongst 40 different therapies.
(Prices from £149 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Bishopstrow House
Barnsley House; Barnsley (Gloucestershire)
An intimate 18-room country house hotel, Barnsley House is very much the boutique pick of this bunch. Sleek Italian-style interiors are the order of the day. The spa’s pretty stylish, too, with lots of glass, chrome and straight lines, while REN treatments are the unguent of choice.
Outside, a Rosemary Verey-designed garden gives onto some stretches of gorgeous countryside. If you call ahead, they’ll even sort out some wellies (of the right size) so you can roam up hill and down dale – and not end up taking half of Gloucestershire back in the car with you.
(Prices from £319 per room per night)
Book a spa break at Barnsley House
Four Seasons Hotel, Hampshire; Dogmersfield (Hampshire)
With a Georgian manor house premises, attractive stable block spa swathed in private parkland and a location an hour or so’s drive from the capital, the Four Seasons Hampshire is the ultimate decadent spa weekend retreat for Londoners.
Depending on the circumstances, its upmarket international chain status can be a bit of a boon, too: there are no independent idiosyncrasies here; just the slickly ironed-out qualities of an upmarket luxury institution. Perfect for a hassle-free weekend of unwinding, in other words.
(Prices from £195 per room per night)
Book a spa break at the Four Seasons Hampshire
Planning a spa break? See our full selection of the best spa hotels in the UK - or see our full selection of spa hotels. Alternatively, browse all our luxury hotels in the United Kingdom.
(This piece originally appeared as Timesonline Travel's Seven Spa Breaks for January.)