The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
ROSIE GREEN SPA STRUCK
The great outdoors takes on a whole new (and more tranquil) meaning in the perfectly formed Bamford Haybarn Spa
For the uninitiated, Daylesford is to farm shops what an Aston Martin is to a Toyota people carrier: light years away from the humdrum mishmash of earthy carrots and pungent candles in your local establishment. It is instead a paean to good taste, with everything from artisan bread to carefully sourced cheese via the palest organic rosé. There are also hipster food trucks and a café. Oh, and piles of cashmere leisurewear and some suitably wild-looking flowers. It’s also virtuous on the environmental front. Basically catnip to the middle classes. Trust me, you will want everything (except, possibly, the bill).
Then there’s Bamford Spa. It sits across a perfectly formed courtyard from the shop and its treatment list, organic credentials, pared-back product design and delicious aromatherapeutic smells make it equally alluring. Its organic ethos feels authentic, rather than dreamt-up marketing spiel.
So it took zero arm-twisting to get me to visit their latest project. New this summer are their outdoor treatment suites. These are basically posh tents, erected at the top of a Disneyperfect orchard, overlooking rolling hills and unfeasibly healthy looking heifers.
I say tents but most of us would consider them marquees, surrounded by fragrant potted plants. Inside they vibe stealth wealth luxe, with a communal area decked out with stylish sofas and chairs, lots of plants and some gorgeous objets of marble and glass (available to buy).
Then there are two treatment rooms and through another “door” an outdoor shower and loo. The main room leads on to a private terrace – a wooden deck with a hot tub, loungers, table and chairs. Nice.
The idea is you go with a few friends (two guests minimum) and for £150 per person you get a 55-minute Haybarn massage or facial and to hang out in your own canvas haven for three hours (you also get access to the meditation tent – hosting yoga and other events and classes).
I arrived with my friend M and we parked her Land Rover alongside all the other Land Rovers. The airy spa reception, genuine welcome and wellness drink (ingredients unknown) were all tick, tick, tick. We were led to our tent and after five minutes alone (where we made isn’t-this-incredible faces at each other) we were introduced to our therapists. Mine was a man. Which made me anxious. He was called Victor and was a Hungarian with taut muscles, a shaved head and cheekbones that could slice mutton. Which didn’t make me feel any better. I immediately wished I had been more thorough in my depilation routine.
Victor turned out to be calm and gracious and gave me the best massage I’d had in years. Within minutes I totally forgot he’d got full eyeball on my porridge thighs. My friend was mightily impressed with her facial, too. The staff are high-calibre.
Our therapists left us, blissed out, to make the arduous decision of whether to relax inside the tent or on the loungers on the deck. We stayed in and ordered food from the café (delicious, ultra-fresh, healthy but satisfying) before going to the shop and buying the cheapest things we could find (Love by Léoube rosé 2016, £14.99, and chic plant pot, £8). It was dreamy.
If you live near enough, this is the perfect spa day trip. If you don’t, or you want to stay over, the Wild Rabbit pub (Bamford-owned and less than a five-minute drive or 25-minute walk along farm track) serves fresh, locally sourced food and has gloriously airy rooms.
Any downsides? Well, apart from potential financial ruin in the shop, you might be wise to consider that canvas stops no
Its organic ethos feels authentic, rather than dreamtup marketing spiel
sound. So if your friend snores or chats through treatments, then cancel her invite tout de suite and take her a bottle of that rosé instead.
INSTANT ZZZZ...
Sleep sprays abound, but beauty insiders love the high-quality essential oils (lavender and rose) and uber chic design of Votary’s new Pillow Spray. £30; votary.co.uk Bamford Haybarn Spa, Daylesford; daylesford.com; Summer Spa Experience (two guests minimum), £150 per person; thewildrabbit.co.uk.