Scott Wilson indulges in luxury on a staycation to a Lake District hotel enjoyed by Wordsworth SO NEAR, SO SPA
Gazing out at clear blue water, a white spinnaker lazily pulls a sloop across a lake while exotic oils are kneaded into my back.
It sounds like a scene from the Durrells’ villa in Corfu but no – I’m at the Low Wood Bay Resort and Spa beside Lake Windermere, a stop for travellers for 150 years.
This is Wordsworth country, but while he famously wandered lonely as a cloud, it’s more cloud nine for me as I luxuriate in the hotel’s swish spa, enjoying their Berry & Birch Body melt.
It might sound like an overpriced yoghurt but it’s a soothing series of massages and scrubs.
It’s 9.15 on a Monday morning, and my partner Joanna and I are being gently pampered. I do feel a pang of guilt about being so lucky, but it soon passes.
Childhood memories of shivering on the Windermere shore in illfitting Terylene trunks are all forgotten as I plunge into the Himalayan dry salt bath, big enough to take a couple of Yetis at least.
An indulgent morning complete, and after a cracking lunch, it’s on to the Jules Verne-sounding Thermal Journey, where you can while away the hours in the myriad of pools, saunas and hot tubs, all the time
gazing out across the lake. The Low Wood is a historic hotel which seamlessly combines old with new.
I’m not the first to have enjoyed it. It was good enough for Wordsworth 200 years ago. He wrote in his 1810 Guide To The Lakes: “Low Wood Inn is a pleasant halting place, no inn in the whole district is so agreeably situated for water views and excursions.”
Wise old Willie wasn’t wrong – and I think he’d approve of how the hotel has retained the elegance that has charmed lake-goers for two centuries while adding facilities such as the spa, gym and conference centre to keep up with tastes.
For those who want a special
treat there is the new Winander club (Winander comes from “Vinander’s mere”, the name of a Norse chief, and the Old English word “mere”).
Low Wood is all about exclusivity and personal service – our room was on two floors with views of the lake on one level and, from the upperstorey bedroom and balcony, the rolling slopes of Wansfell.
The hotel has two places to eat. The magisterial Windermere restaurant in the old part of the hotel combines elegance and tradition.
The Blue Smoke on the Bay is contemporary, specialising in open wood-fire cuisine. You can choose between a view of the lake or snuggle close to the fire to chat with the chefs as they prepare the food including the 40oz T-Rex steak (as the menu says, this is for two, or “one very brave hungry person”).
Low Wood is towards the north end of the lake, and there’s tons to see and do – it’s Windermere after all! We strolled down to the lakeside to try the dinghies at the sailing centre attached to the hotel.
But there wasn’t a breath of wind, which is probably a good thing as I can’t tell my port from my starboard, so we hired a small motorboat to pootle around in.
These are a great way of seeing Windermere and thankfully for landlubbers like me, they are easy to handle (after a bit of instruction from the staff).
We chugged down for a beer in Bowness, tied up like we’re admirals of the fleet, then it’s a quick 99 ice cream. It’s hardly nautical, but it’s definitely nice.
It’s fun to be captain of your own boat, at least for the afternoon, as we skirted between the islets that pepper the lake and the red buoys that mark submerged rocks. It feels very Swallows and Amazons.
Now it’s time to bring in the boat, and with a little bit of help from Angus from the sailing club (“slow down pleasssse!”) I attempted to park, if that’s the correct nautical term. The manoeuvre was going, well, swimmingly, until I drifted towards a dragon boat packed with paddlers who panicked as I got closer.
With Angus’s help, we made terra firma with only my pride injured.
If you prefer someone more competent to do the sailing, a fleet of cruisers ply up and down letting you visit all the lake’s attractions including Brockhole.
Now a National Trust place, it’s great fun for the family, with adventure playgrounds, archery, laser clay pigeon shooting, and an aerial wire for the kids or young at heart. Entry is free.
Back at the hotel, we made a beeline for the Jacuzzi to gaze once more upon England’s largest lake.
With a glass of Prosecco in hand, we had just a couple of lonely clouds for company overhead.
Wise old Willie would approve of how the hotel has retained its elegance