The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Plan your perfect winter wellness weekend
If you’re looking to recharge your batteries, these UK spa hotels offer state-of-the-art facilities and next-level treatments, says Issy Von Simson
When you go on holiday for a week, it often takes the first three days to wind down and settle into a new rhythm. On day four, you finally exhale and relax. But on day five and six, the panic about the return to real life starts to creep in and the benefits appear to vanish.
It is worth remembering this on a spa weekend as your mind whirrs and refuses to calm down during that first massage. Of course you can whizz in for a day to any of these top-of-their-game country-house hotel spas, and the experience, albeit short and sweet, will give you a gentle all-round polish and boost. But allow at least a weekend to slow and then you will start to see significant shifts – proper nourishing moments, both physically and mentally.
The UK spas listed here don’t just nod to wellbeing or simply offer somewhere to pad around in a robe and lie by the pool. These spaces celebrate a proper, grounded wellness proposition where next-level treatments and deeply knowledgeable therapists are complemented by everything from forest bathing and cold-water immersions to sauna sessions and results-driven facials.
Anything wishy-washy in the spa world has had its day – which means you can dive in and emerge, not just feeling good, but really feeling better.
Beaverbrook Surrey
Every corner of this luxurious mansion, the former home of press baron Lord Beaverbrook, offers up grandeur. Interiors are elegant, with notable artworks and poems lining the walls, while the spa – designed by Brian Clarke – is a riot of colour by comparison. With six treatment rooms, experiences range from the classic to the more “out-there” choices, including a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, and intravenous infusions. There is also a checkerboard-bottomed outdoor pool, an indoor pool and a thermal suite with a whirlpool, steam room and sauna inside.
Doubles from £553; treatments from £90 (01372 571300; beaverbrook.co.uk)
Gleneagles Hotel Perthshire
Scottish baronial meets French château with a light dusting of jazz-age glamour at this grande dame Highlands hotel. The spa – a haven of sybaritic delights with an added health dimension – offers complementary and alternative therapies delivered by top-notch practitioners. For all-over wellbeing, indulge in one of the signature treatments or a Grown Alchemist ritual. Dr Barbara Sturm facials and Tata Harper massages are also highlights. With a thermal suite, hydrotherapy pool, beauty lodge and superb relaxation areas to choose from, you may never venture outdoors. Doubles from £251; treatments from £155 (01764 290 018; gleneagles.com)
Lime Wood Hampshire
If you’re looking for a restful weekend, Lime Wood’s Herb House Spa is the ultimate retreat for zen-induced downtime. In summer, the glass doors by the outdoor pool unfold, opening out onto a deck with lime-green sun loungers. In autumn and winter, the place to be is the thermal room. Here you will find the sauna (with forest views) and steam room, a tepidarium and a jetted pool. A beautiful rooftop herb garden – many of its botanicals are used in treatments – offers quiet contemplation.
Doubles from £394; treatments from £80 (023 8028 7177; limewoodhotel.co.uk)
The Scarlet, Cornwall
This Cornish classic is perfect for adults seeking utter restoration in a spectacular setting. With its clifftop hot tubs, natural outdoor pool, sauna cabin with beach-view portholes, indoor pool and steam room, the spa is the real reason people come here. The lounge overlooking the ocean beyond is a supremely serene space for a snooze, and daily wellness classes include morning yoga and tai chi. Outside, the coastal garden spills down to a path that leads to the silky beach in minutes. Doubles from £394; treatments from £130 (01637 861800; scarlethotel.co.uk)
Cliveden Berkshire
There are country-house hotels – and then there is Cliveden. The National Trust property’s spa is set around its listed, heated outdoor pool (where the infamous Profumo Affair started), edged by lawn and surrounded by loungers and two hot tubs. Inside, the spa includes an indoor pool, an infrared sauna and a steam room, plus seven treatment rooms and an orangery-style area for relaxing. Once the day’s visitors have departed, you will have the vast, magnificent tree-lined parterre at the rear of the house all to yourself. It feels like the true meaning of peaceful. Doubles from £530; treatments from £130 (01628 668561; clivedenhouse.co.uk)
The Gainsborough Bath Spa Somerset
The Romanesque Spa Village – the only spa with access to the city’s thermal waters – is the Gainsborough’s unique selling point, and it is quite something. There are three baths in which to wallow, as well as saunas and a steam room. A wide range of massages and treatments are on offer; some, such as a mud detox, use Hungarian skin care brand Omorovicza. Thermae Bath Spa is opposite if you really want to make a weekend of it.
Doubles from £197; treatments from £150 (01225 358888; thegainsboroughbathspa.co.uk)
Heckfield Place Hampshire
A long-awaited full spa opened at this Georgian house hotel in 2023. The surroundings – 400 acres of verdant grounds with walled gardens and lakes you can swim in – immediately set the tone for the spa’s nature-filled, slow philosophy, which focuses attention on movement (there is a cardiovascular fitness room), reconnection in the form of retreats, and natural treatments by Wildsmith. Named the Bothy, the spa features a pool and thermal area, as well as a restaurant with a simple plantbased menu.
Doubles from £550; treatments from £150 (0118 932 6868; heckfieldplace.com)
The Newt Somerset
The Newt is where you go for a refined weekend in the West Country. The gardens are a joy, while beautifully designed interiors range from periodic to modern farmhouse. The spa is equally striking; all rough-hewn walls, exposed stone and beams. There is the usual steam room and sauna, plus indoor-outdoor pool, and treatment rooms where you can indulge in the likes of warm candle massages, floral facials and traditional Turkish hammam therapies. Classes include breathwork, meditation and cold-water dips. Doubles from £383; treatments from £80 (01963 577777; thenewtinsomerset.com)
Thyme Gloucestershire
In postcard-pretty Southrop, this profoundly peaceful spot is a delight for spa-lovers. Facilities are first-class, from the Meadow Spa to the heated springwater swimming pool, tennis court and topiary-filled garden. But for ultimate relaxation, the Botanical Bothy is where you want to be. The blissful rituals perdown,
formed in this dedicated space incorporate guided breathwork, body brushing, head massages and a herbal soak in one of the private garden’s outdoor tubs (with a nearby fireplace), sending guests into a trance-like state of relaxation. Doubles from £406; treatments from £105 (01367 850174; thyme.co.uk)
Middleton Lodge Yorkshire
Wellness is taken seriously at this rambling Georgian estate near Richmond, especially in the rustic Forest Spa, which opened in 2023. There is a pool house – all wooden beams, exposed stone, sink-into sofas and a log-burning fire – with folding doors that open out onto a heated pool. Here, guests can be found padding between the plunge pool, hot tub, sauna, steam room and wooden treatment cabins. Therapies of note include seaweed bath rituals and massages inspired by forest bathing. Doubles from £200; treatments from £55 (not including use of spa facilities) (01325 377977; middletonlodge.co.uk)
Babington House Somerset
The original country outpost of Soho House remains very alluring to those seeking peace in the Somerset countryside. Two pools to pick from include one overlooking a lake, and one inside a cavernous stone barn. Both are heated and back onto a pool house in which you will find steam and sauna rooms, high-end changing facilities and a cinema that hosts free screenings every day. Elsewhere there are tennis courts, a football pitch, bikes and the Cowshed Spa delivering its signature treatments. Doubles from £220; treatments from £65 (01373 812266; sohohouse.com)
Swinton Park Yorkshire
With a fine-dining restaurant, a range of country pursuits, a nine-hole golf course, a cookery school and more besides, you won’t be bored at this ivycloaked baronial pile. If all that sounds too much like hard work, there is a sleek and airy spa in which to enjoy some quality downtime. Enticements include an indoor pool and thermal experience, a freshwater outdoor pool and a sauna set in a spa garden. Spa treatments use organic Bamford products; the signature facial is outrageously good. Doubles from £245; treatments from £95 (01765 680900; swintonestate.com)
The Grove Hertfordshire
Located in 300 acres of glorious grounds, not too far from London, the Grove makes for an attractive country escape with its impressive array of facilities and things to do. People quietly flock here for its award-winning spa, its statement black-mosaic pool, and its choice of house and Bamford treatments. It really is excellent – whether you are there for the weekend or just the day. Also on offer are hypnotherapy sessions, intravenous vitamin infusions, and retreats such as habit-forming workshops and candlelit Yin yoga.
Doubles from £443; treatments from £180 (01923 807807; thegrove.co.uk)
The Tawny Staffordshire
With shimmering lakes, wild woodland and forgotten follies overgrown with flora, grounds at the Tawny are the stuff of holistic dreams. Rooms are spread across boathouses, treehouses, shepherd’s huts and more, so you can wake up to the views. Ways to find your zen here include a dip in the heated outdoor pool, which benefits from sweeping valley views; a private yoga session in the grounds; forest bathing; a Gaia spa treatment in a sweet thatched cottage; and even a kombucha-making class. Doubles from £230; treatments from £60 (01538 787664; thetawny.co.uk)
The Falcon Northamptonshire
This former coaching inn – set among historic Castle Ashby’s 10,000 acres of elegant gardens, woodland, lakes and meadows – is a place where travellers can easily unwind, thanks to stylish, nature-themed interior design, comfy, quiet rooms, and a fine-dining addition to Northamptonshire’s food scene. A big focus on wellbeing is realised in activities such as wild swimming, yoga, gong baths, guided meditation and tours of the estate, not to mention massage treatments that encompass both Swedish and Thai techniques.
Doubles from £125; treatments from
£95 (01604 698005; thefalconcastleashby.com)
Grantley Hall Yorkshire
From its Palladian good looks and elegant bedrooms to the swish spa and Michelin-starred dining, Grantley Hall fires on five-star cylinders that make every guest feel important. This is a place to be pampered. The vast spa – with treatments ranging from holistic rituals and oxygen therapy to Swedish massage and reiki – has a thermal suite, igloo room, indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy pool and lap pool, plus a Nordic spa garden with ice baths and an outdoor sauna. The feeling is one of serenity. Doubles from £516; treatments from £160 (01765 620070; grantleyhall.co.uk)
Cowley Manor Experimental Gloucestershire
Conversations about the spa here have flown slightly under the radar. This is not surprising given that the reopening of Cowley Manor, the Italianate beauty near Cheltenham, was all anyone in the Cotswolds could talk about last summer. But it is surprising, given what a great wellness space the C-Side Spa is and has always been. The bones – that gorgeous glass-sided, low-slung Modernist building, the sun-trap swimming pool, excellent therapists – only needed a little spruce up, a light touch by designer Dorothée Meilichzon. A few smart sofas, locally made and natural Monu Skin products lining the shelves and cheery parasols on the terrace have given it a frisky new lease of life. Doubles from £250, treatments from £100 (01242 870900; cowleymanorexperimental.com)
Archerfield House East Lothian
This splendidly stylish retreat soothes from the moment you step through the door. Flooded with light, it overlooks an enchanting walled garden (complete with garden bath huts – try the Rasul mud treatment for two). Inside, a log burner keeps things cosy while you lounge on pale sofas sipping a glass of sherry. There is no swimming pool, but you won’t miss it with a salt steam room and aroma sauna as a warming prelude to the very thorough treatments. Doubles from £195; treatments from £130 (01620 897050; archerfieldhouse.com)
Galgorm County Antrim
Set in glorious rural surroundings among mature woodland, Galgorm’s sprawling spa village is a place where time is well spent. There are countless private hot tubs in the Walled, Alpine and Riverside gardens (some dotted along the tumbling River Maine), as well as several saunas and steam rooms; multiple pools – of the hydrotherapy, plunge, whirlpool, outdoor lap and vitality types – plus a sanarium (like a low-temperature sauna), snow cabin and salt cave; and lounges, including an orangery-style room with swinging chairs. There’s something for everyone. Doubles from £213; treatments from
£95 (028 2588 1001; galgorm.com)
Barnsley House Gloucestershire
This 17th-century Cotswolds house is dreamily romantic; a place you immediately relax into, thanks to its casual-chic furnishings, snug seating areas and cosy log fires. Botanical and horticultural elements abound throughout the hotel (in room names, formal gardens, artwork), which extend to its wellness facilities. Hidden in the garden dell, the smart spa has an outdoor hydrotherapy pool surrounded by plants, and bundles of rosemary hang in the herbarium, for instance. Treatments are traditional, with facials using Biotec and Elemis. Doubles from £510; treatments from £60 (01285 740000; barnsleyhouse.com)
Additional contributions from Telegraph Travel experts