The best spas in the UK
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Britain has no shortage of brilliant, big-hitting country-house hotels – and alongside deeply cosseting bedrooms, restaurants helmed by star chefs, and some of the UK’s prettiest countryside right on the doorstep, many are home to serious, results-driven spas, too. If you’re looking to reset and reboot, these warm-hearted spa hotels and retreats in the UK are the ones to book into. Closer to the capital, take a look at our picks of the best spas in London or the best spas near London for a day trip, or if you're looking for a longer stay, then book yourself a UK weekend break.
LaryssaerrattBeaverbrook
Best for: a total reset in a historic estate
Known for its bucolic gardens and historic setting, Beaverbrook has long been one of the country’s foremost escapes. Just a hop and a skip from west London, once you arrive, you’ll feel as though you’ve left the city far behind. The soaring manor house peeps out over the Surrey hills, where rooms are spread between the main house, garden house and the newer village area. The Coach House, however, is where the wellness magic takes place. Enter the kaleidoscopic space, where dappled light filters through the colourful stained glass windows, as designed by artist Brian Clarke, with oak leaves, poppies and blossoms adorning the ceilings.
The art reflects the spa’s focus on its surroundings – treatments are holistic and natural, and the therapists are emblematic of this ethos. Lino Zinchi, the ex-Chelsea football masseur and yoga instructor is one of the UK’s very best. Book in for a biodynamic massage in the peaceful Meadow Hut, where Lino will employ a mix of deep tissue massage, shiatsu sweeping techniques, Ayurvedic limb pulling, and pressure point energy releases that will leave you feeling as good as new. The treatment is rounded off with a sound bath, the vibrations of which slowly soothe your muscles, spirit and psyche back to reality, so you can go forth to soak up the beauty of the gardens with a refreshed outlook (Lino also leads a wonderful mindful walk through the grounds if you’re looking for an even bigger mental reset).
Address: Reigate Road, Leatherhead KT22 8QX
Eynsham Baths
Best for: wallowing in thermal baths in the lap of luxury
The woodland-set Eynsham Baths are the icing on the cake of 60-acre estate Estelle Manor, which folds in a Jacobethan manor, workspaces, a gym, five restaurants, members-only bars and restaurants, outhouses with rooms, cottages and houses. It took five years to create this impressive 3,000-square-metre hunk of a building. Inside, carved columns and classical flourishes meet high ceilings and an abundance of natural light. A wraparound staircase leads down to roomy changing rooms that segue into serene, private treatment rooms on one side and the grand bathing hall.
The baths are a marble and stone reimagining of the monumental thermae or balnea of Imperial Rome. The clubbable bathing circuit is resolutely Roman, with a frigidarium, caldarium, and tepidarium (and an Alpine-style hay sauna and Ottoman-inspired hammam to boot). The treatment menu has a different mood. It offers a heterogenous, almost intellectual, curation of ancient healing rituals drawn from Indian, Tibetan, and Chinese traditions. Holistic health and touch therapist Manos de Modis, who honed his powers in Cambodia and Thailand working for Aman, had a hand in elevating the treatments. Treatments unfold in the quieter, private zone, in simple, elegant rooms where piped mantras calm your central nervous system. Signature treatments include the Marma Chikitsa, which fuses chakra healing, marma points therapy, gentle abdominal work and cranial holds. The spa eschews branded products. Instead, Eiesha Bharti Pasricha spent three years formulating medicinal plant remedies as the basis of a multitude of hand-blended oils, balms, liniments, serums, scrubs and soaps. Lydia Bell
Address: Eynsham Park, Oxfordshire, UK OX29 6PN
Adam LynkCliveden
Best for: An all-encompassing country escape
The route to Cliveden's Spa is easily navigated. From Cliveden House’s imposing portico, the gravel drive acts as a divide, booted ramblers and robed spa-goers splitting up to indulge in contrasting wellness pursuits. Spa attendants guide guests through to pristine changing rooms fragranced by Branche d’Olive’s Verbena, from which exits lead into the light-flooded walkway around the heated outdoor swimming pool or the indoor facilities. Inside, guests flit between the steam room, infrared sauna, indoor pool, and jacuzzi via the showers, lounging on daybeds between elegant laps and treatments. The heated pool outside is the beating heart of the complex and comes alive during the summer months – however sizable, you’ll struggle to front crawl from end-to-end after breakfast.
Visit mid-week for semi-exclusive use of the facilities during off-peak times; on weekends, Cliveden Club members arrive for soothing treatments and leisurely poolside lunches. That said, thanks to renowned skin expert and facialist Teresa Tarmey’s residencies, glowing devotees now descend for coveted Friday slots. On our visit, I experience one of the latest snooze-inducing treatments using calming Oskia products. Deep sleep massage oil is poured generously over my limbs as I embrace the ripples of the heated waterbed. As mist droplets settle on my skin and balms scent the air, hot stones ease my aching muscles, and all becomes clear. I emerge from the warmth of the treatment room droopy-eyed and committed to a poolside slumber; seizing the day can wait. Connor Sturges
Address: Cliveden House, Taplow, Berkshire SL6 0JF
ChrisTubbsSequoia Spa at The Grove
Best for: A quick escape from London
Countryside escapes that are both close to central London and take less than an hour to reach are something of a prized commodity for city dwellers. The Grove in Hertfordshire is such a thing: roughly 18 miles from London and situated across a sprawling 300-acre site. In addition to a beloved hotel stay, this is very much a day-trip destination in itself, either for the impressive 18-hole golf course, the newly renovated Sequoia Spa, or both.
Located in a shiny multi-level modern building separate from the Grade-II listed hotel, the spa has an all-singing and dancing set-up with its own health-focused cafe, member’s lounge and state-of-the-art fitness studio with regular group classes. When the sun is shining, the outdoor terrace is an unbeatable spot, with sleek white loungers surrounded by manicured greenery and cheerful daffodils. The main draw, though, is the spa facilities – a 22-metre indoor pool, Jacuzzi, steam room and sauna, plus a ladies-only wellness pool. Treatments range from supercharged anti-ageing facials and body rituals from Natura Bisse to blissful treatments using the natural skincare brand Bamford. I tried the Bamford organic facial, where I was given a mini facelift via cold stone facial massage. Hypnotherapy is also offered with the aim to help ease anxiety or quit smoking. Lauren Burvill
Address: Chandler's Cross, Watford WD3 4TG
MR.TRIPPERCowley Manor Experimental
Best for: rolling green hills and fresh countryside air
Set at the end of a long, winding driveway with a meandering stream to the left and blossoming trees to the right, is Cowley Manor Experimenta. This hotel and spa proudly look out over a crystal clear lake, with views of the Cotswolds' rolling hills beyond its 55 sprawling acres. The property has passed hands over the years, and various wealthy families and famous people have walked its halls, including the inventors of Horlicks and the Sainsbury family – there's even a secret garden where author Lewis Carroll wrote his legendary tale Alice in Wonderland. Today, the Parisian Experimental Group have given it a modern makeover with a fantastical Alice and Wonderland theme.
Inside the luxury C-Side spa, you'll find a 17-metre slate-lined pool surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto a lush green forest. There's a tiled steam room, a cosy wooden sauna, a glass-fronted gym, changing rooms stocked with all the essentials and four soothing treatment rooms. Outside, guests lounge in white towelling robes on sunbeds around the 15-metre outdoor pool shaded by white-fringed parasols. Food and drink can be ordered and enjoyed poolside on sunnier days.
The spa menu ranges from speedy 30-minute treatments, including facials and skin consulting sessions, to lengthy two-hour body treatments for a full mind and body escape. The ‘ultimate signature body ritual’ is a peaceful treatment that includes a scrub, massage and facial, all in one, while the lime and walnut body wrap treatment offers guests a full body wrap infused with aromatic body oils followed by an exfoliant scrub leaving your skin rejuvenated. After a day spent relaxing at the spa, head to the hotel’s restaurant for meals such as local Bibury trout with spring peas and asparagus or Hereford Côte de Boeuf served with smokey bone marrow and sweet baby onions. Should you be there on a Sunday, be sure to order the extremely indulgent roast dinner doused in rich gravy. Sophie Knight
Address: Cowley, Cheltenham GL53 9NL
Calcot & Spa, Gloucestershire
Best for: a family-friendly wellness break
Just outside of Tetbury in the Cotswolds, this honey-hued country manor has long been hailed as one of the UK’s top spots for families – and yet, while we do spot a few kids running about the estate, the overall atmosphere of the place is composed and relaxed. The hotel has recently rebranded to bring its wellness offering to the fore. The existing wellness space has been transformed to focus purely on relaxation – think 16-metre heated pool, sauna, steam room, and a sun trap courtyard complete with a fireside hot tub – while an entirely new building has been developed to house a fitness area. The Grain Store (named after its former life as a storage centre for the farm), is home to a state-of-the-art gym, fitness space and co-working area. Classes include HIIT, yoga, pilates, barre and ballet, and there is a separate “Spin Shed” and a well-equipped outdoor gym.
There are bikes available to borrow and explore the 220 acres, and outdoor games like tennis or disc golf. The Huddle Café is designed to further encourage fitness to slot into guests’ daily working lives, allowing them the space to work remotely and take regular breaks to focus on their health. Parents hoping to offload kids while they head to the spa will be pleased to know that there are multiple child-friendly areas, from The Playbarn (a crèche area jam-packed with toys and arts and crafts) and climbing frames outside to The Mez (a cave with PlayStations, Xboxes and games for screen-obsessed kids). Calcot & Spa is a gloriously old-world escape for a cosy Cotswolds weekend wellness break or families looking for multi-generational trips.
Address: Calcot & Spa, Tetbury, Gloucestershire GL8 8YJ, UK
Now read our full review of Calcot Manor & Spa
Four Seasons Hampshire
Best for: Post-spa walks
From the moment you turn into the winding entrance of Four Seasons Hampshire, you’ll be enveloped in blissful peace and quiet. There’s nothing but green open space for 500 acres, which forces even the most stressed shoulders to drop an inch or two before you’ve so much as stepped foot in the spa. The grand Georgian manor has been many things over the years – a country estate, a boarding school, and even the site of Henry VIII's first meeting with Catherine of Aragon – and the property has kept many original features from over the years, including the 16th-century dovecote. There’s a very Bridgerton-esque feeling throughout – helped by high ceilings, winding wooden staircases and ever-attentive staff – which helps to create a wonderful separation between everyday life and your weekend escape.
The hotel is probably best known for two things: its spa, and being particularly child-friendly. Those without children don’t need to worry; kids are so well accommodated here (there’s even a separate pool featuring waterslides) that you can enjoy your relaxing break without crossing paths. Treatments use products from brands including 111Skin, Ila and Dr Barbara Sturm, but during our stay, we indulged in a treatment created especially for FS Hampshire, which uses custom oils. The Ni Putu Signature Massage uses ancient teachings passed down through generations to the spa’s lead therapist, and was a wonderful combination of firm massage and stretching that left me feeling two inches taller than when I entered. It’s a rare thing to be able to feel completely immersed in a treatment, but it’s made simple here by cosy, dark rooms and reassuring therapists. Decor in the spa is simple, and could potentially use some modernisation, but the quality of the treatments means that FS Hampshire lives up to its recommendation as one of the best spa hotels in the UK. Abigail Malbon
Address: Dogmersfield Park, Chalky Ln, Hook RG27 8TD
Paul MasseyThe Bothy by Wildsmith at Heckfield Place, Hampshire
Best for: a healing Hampshire stay
The Bothy opened last spring, upping the ante on what Heckfield already offers: forward-looking country-house interiors wrapped in the grandeur of a Georgian red-brick, some of the best art in a rural hotel setting and two fresh garden- and orchard-fed restaurants by Skye Gyngell. It already feels at home in its sculpted woodland, farmland and lakeland setting. Visitors pass through the flower-filled original walled garden to reach a tiny cottage, once home to the estate gardeners. Now, this “bothy” is the first nook in a 17,000-square-foot space dedicated to nurturing wellbeing. In accordance with the retreat’s firm approach to promoting serene adults, its attendants politely suggest leaving phones “charging” at the entrance, and invite a three-hour wallowing window to enjoy a treatment and “The Waters”. This is shorthand for an 18-metre, chlorine-free, ionised infinity pool with natural minerals, as well as steam and sauna rooms, an outdoor hot tub and changing spaces the colour of fossilised limestone, with swishy curtains and Wildsmith-stocked showers. There’s also a lounge with a country view for reading, and an indoor-outdoor sunroom, for which Gyngell has created a short, plant-based spa menu. Therapeutic massages, body treatments and facials incorporate myofascial release and acupressure and make use of Heckfield’s high-performance skincare brand, Wildsmith Skin. A Master Practitioners Menu adds in the likes of naturopathy, osteopathy and reiki. Outdoorsy wellness excursions include forest bathing, alfresco fitness and “cold, wild water immersion therapy” in the lake, which rocket-fires ebbing dopamine and promotes oneness with Heckfield’s magical nature. Lydia Bell
Address: Heckfield Place, Hampshire, RG27 0LD
The Newt, Somerset
Best for: farm-to-treatment-table style wellness
The first thing you’re handed as you pull up at The Newt is a map. With close to 1,000 acres of woodland, gardens and orchards – plus an onsite cyder press, interactive garden museum and reconstructed Roman villa – it’s obvious that this is a notch above your average country-house hotel. Yet despite the sheer scale of the place, the hotel itself still manages to create a more intimate, private house-party atmosphere, squirrelled away in a pocket of the estate that’s out-of-bounds to non-guests.
A genuine and deeply authentic celebration of the West Country sits at the root of The Newt’s entire supersized operation – and the estate’s locavore, back-to-the-land ethos bounces off the walls of its pretty stone spa. Cleverly slotted into a former cow barn, there’s a deliciously tranquil vaulted indoor/outdoor swimming pool overlooking the medicinal gardens (the Signature Garden Massage begins with a barefoot walk outside), herbologists work hand-in-hand with therapists to forage for fresh botanicals to use in treatments, and apples plucked from the orchards reappear as sorbets or chips for post-massage snacks.
One treatment room mimics a potting shed, with gardeners’ tools and terracotta pots lining the walls, and you can even watch the gardeners forage for supper as you lift weights in the impossibly sleek gym (next door, a yoga studio hosts classes each morning). With three superlative restaurants scattered around the estate, this isn’t a place to spa and detox: provenance is tracked in steps rather than miles, and although vegetables grab the spotlight in the breezy Garden Café, there’s a gelateria serving the farm’s buffalo-milk ice cream for a more indulgent sweet fix. Rooms in Hadspen House (the burnt-orange, Georgian beauty that anchors the estate) are grand and gilded, but if you’d prefer to keep the spa experience going, book into the Farmyard, a cycle ride across the estate – a handful of rooms come with their steam pods and picture-book windows overlooking pastoral Somerset scenes below.
Address: The Newt in Somerset, Bruton, Somerset BA7 7NG
Now read our full spa review of The Newt in Somerset
Craig FordhamChewton Glen, Hampshire
Best for: treehouse highs
Chewton Glen led the wellness way when it opened its spa in 1990, giving over a tremendous amount of space (and above ground, too!) to its pools and treatment rooms, and a gym that almost has the best view in the whole place, looking across the rolling lawns to the stream that marks the county border between Hampshire and Dorset. But it was about time the grande dame had a bit of a tweak. A few years ago, designer Anita Rosato whisked in and gave the spa interiors a timely spruce. Gone (though loyally beloved by some) were the Roman-style murals and yellow-tinted Doric columns around the 55-foot swimming pool.
Now a crisp lick of white has smartened everything up, here and in the hydrotherapy spa. The treatment menu has been pared back to focus on proper personalised service: a massage where the therapist focuses only on the bits that ache, a Natura Bissé facial that targets what’s needed, a bespoke hour of scrubs and wraps using the Oskia-designed in-house oils and salts. The point is, you choose. There’s also a rotating series of spa partnerships throughout the course of the year; for 2023, it’s CBD brand OTO, who have designed a special treatment for women going through the menopause. The Balance & Restore body ritual includes an anti-inflammatory stomach massage to ease digestion and emotional heaviness, and guests are packed off with a bespoke educational plan to help reset their diet and exercise regime. This classic spot is really thinking on its feet.
Address: Chewton Glen, Christchurch Road, New Milton, Hampshire BH25 6QS
Now read our full review of Chewton Glen
Coworth Park, Berkshire
Best for: gleaming grandeur
Forget about old-fashioned charm or anything shabby chic: Coworth Park is a different beast entirely, with staff who wear headsets to communicate with each other and a veneer as polished as the fleet of Range Rovers in the drive (there are a lot of heels, lipstick and suits in the dining room). Just 45 minutes from London, on a 240-acre estate on the edge of Windsor Great Park, the sprawling white Georgian manor house is manicured perfection, with four-poster beds, huge bathtubs and smoky oak flooring. Outside the gloss continues with some smartly converted stables, a collection of cottages (ideal for families), a rose garden, tennis courts and – star of the show – a fabulously sparky eco-spa.
The swimming pool is very slick, lined in gigantic amethyst crystals and with music playing underwater. There are also den-like saunas and steam rooms to retreat to. And the treatments deliver exactly what is needed: Germaine de Capuccini facials, vitamin C wraps, wildly invigorating exfoliations and the sedating Hebridean Sound treatment which includes a mass of powerful scalp work to slow down a racing mind. And to seal the deal? Immaculate pedicures afterwards. Even the changing rooms are a treat to use, but don't leave your hairbrush behind – regardless of whether it's a Mason Pearson beauty or a seen-better-days Tangle Teezer, it will be taken by security guards, moved to the main hotel, and boxed up like precious jewellery for collection. It's just that kind of place.
Address: Coworth Park, Blacknest Road, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7SE
Now read our full review of Coworth Park
Ragdale Hall, The Midlands
The Midlands is increasingly well served for spas these days, but the family-owned Ragdale Hall is something of a classic – a great hunk of Georgian redbrick not far from Melton Mowbray, where a steaming rooftop infinity pool is just part of an impressive spa area that feels almost Germanic in scale. While some spas trade on a certain hushed exclusivity, Ragdale feels more like a chatty communal experience – from the wood-panelled dining hall, with faint echoes of boarding school, to the water wobbly classes on the way to various landscaped outdoor pools, a purple-ish subterranean candle pool and a thermal area of bright ‘colour flow’ caves, scent rooms and experience showers. The range of treatments for both day spa and overnight guests is similarly impressive (and fairly priced) – from hot stone massages to singing-bowl sound baths, flotation tanks, salt scrubs and Biotec facials using microcurrent pulses. Wallpapered rooms are cosy, if slightly dated, unlike the smart new Twilight bar, with its Flat White cocktails and notes of millennial pink. There’s clearly a formula that works here, and which means that many of the slightly giggly groups of older ladies are returnees. They surely keep coming back because it’s unpretentious, welcoming and all rather good fun. Toby Skinner
Address: Ragdale Hall Spa, Ragdale Village, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 3PB
Lime Wood, Hampshire
Best for: keen foodies
Go through the pretty but very touristy town of Lyndhurst (all red brick and timber) on the edge of the scrub-like and heathery New Forest, past a herd of roaming ponies, down a tree-lined road with meadows either side and you arrive at Lime Wood. Tweed-clad staff (even in high summer) take your bags and car, and then whisk you straight off to your room. Stay in the woodland-chic, two-bedroom Forest Cottages if you've come with the family, but this is also the ideal place for a restorative couples' break or some girls' downtime.
If you can make it past the shop, stocked with quirky things such as wooden Finlay and Co sunglasses, to the spa, you'll find 10 treatment rooms and three different types of pool: an indoor ozone-treated one, an outdoor hot tub, and a hydropool overlooking the forest, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a log-lined sauna next door. The Bamford treatments are nurturing and soothing, and try the Voya Seaweed Leaf Wrap too, which will leave your skin feeling baby-soft. Yes, there's the Raw and Cured bar spilling over with superfoods, but mega-chef Angela Hartnett's heavenly dining is also what many come here for: ewe's curd with roasted vegetables, grilled turbot with heirloom tomatoes, white beans, mint and saffron. The hotel also even has its own smoke house.
Address: Lime Wood, Beaulieu Road, Lyndhurst, Hampshire SO43 7FZ
Viktor KeryFairmont Windsor Park
Best for: no-expense-spared luxury
This grand countryside hotel, on the edge of Windsor Great Park and surrounded by 40 acres of manicured open gardens, certainly knows how to create a very royal impression. A pretty fairytale bridge across a lake, pearls of water from the fountain in the middle glistening in the sunshine, leads the way to the elegant retreat. After check in, you're delivered to the downstairs spa where it becomes clear that what really sets this hotel apart is its sprawling state-of-the-art wellness area. Spanning 2,500 square metres, it has been designed to bring together the relaxing set-up you'd expect from a spoiling spa with hi-tech innovation. There are 18 treatment rooms, a six-person hammam, a 20-metre indoor pool, Japanese ashiyu foot ritual bath and the first multi-person cryotherapy chamber in the UK, with capacity to treat up to five guests at a time.
South African designer Margaret Morgan is responsible for the interiors across the hotel, but in the spa area her expertise really shines. There's a hydrotherapy vitality pool and other secret corners, such as the Himalayan salt room, where entire walls built from bricks of pink Himalayan salt are backlit for a magic glow and distribute a steady saturation of those beneficial salts. These are said to purify the air and provide health benefits such as boosting mood, enhancing sleep and improving breathing conditions. There’s also a silent room with dimmed lighting, the most comfortable lounge-beds, equipped with weighted blankets for maximum stress relief and deep relaxation. Just remember to set yourself a timer.
The treatment list is not available at any other Fairmont spas and there are several bespoke therapies, the most incredible among them being the Fairmont Windsor Park Royal Signature Ritual. Curated by the in-house team of therapists, it combines Japanese, Ayurvedic and European practices with shiatsu-inspired stretches and a dreamy facial. There are plenty of opportunities to sip the spa’s own teas and honey which are available at tea stations around the spa. The best is the Yin Bespoke Tea house blend, containing rose, calendula, nettle and rosehip.
Address: Fairmont Windsor Park, Bishopsgate Road, Englefield Green, Egham TW20 0YL
Lucknam Park, Wiltshire
Best for: bucolic charm
Set in 500 acres of glorious Cotswolds countryside with woodland walking trails, croquet on the lawn, tennis courts, bicycles to borrow and an incredibly smart equestrian centre, this is a Jane Austen-style English idyll at its best. The spa – fresh from a relaunch and tucked away behind the walled gardens with a swimming pool, indoor/outdoor hydrotherapy pools and thermal cabins – is equally impressive.
A new partnership with 111SKIN has bolstered the wellness offering here even further. Founded by cosmetic surgeon Dr Yannis Alexandrides, the brand’s treatments promise surgically inspired results: a special Black Diamond facial smooths, lifts and contours the skin, while a pioneering cryotherapy cellulite treatment tackles the root cause by freezing skin at a bracing -30 degrees centigrade. If you’d prefer something a little more soporific, book in for a massage using Natural Spa Factory’s homegrown products – based just down the road in Bath, the small-batch, ethical skincare brand packs its oils with locally-sourced herbs, plants and flowers, and its goodies are stocked in the hotel rooms too.
Address: Lucknam Park, Colerne, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN14 8AZ
Now read our full review of Lucknam Park
Dormy House, Worcestershire
Best for: just lazing around
After a £14 million renovation, this super-swish 17th-century farmhouse hotel now has 39 rooms individually designed in splendid colours by Todhunter Earle (also responsible for Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons in Oxfordshire). There's a little gym near the main bedrooms that's just for guests, which is a nice touch, and means that in theory you can go for a treadmill run at midnight. But you won't, because The Back Garden has fantastic food made with local ingredients and The Shed next door is a cosy bar with a sizeable drinks list. Never mind: soak out your excesses in the warm indoor infinity pool, the even warmer outdoor hot tub, the salt steam room, or lavender and juniper saunas.
The soothing therapies include a truffle facial and are designed by Temple Spa, a niche brand based in West Sussex that uses only natural ingredients. The Silent Night Sleep treatment, with warm lavender and chamomile oils, a back massage and pressure-point facial will get you purring. But it's the charming staff and the extras that make this place special: the Champagne Nail Parlour, the log fires, sun terraces, pre-treatment juices and post-massage snacks.
Address: Dormy House, Willersey Hill, Broadway, Worcestershire WR12 7LF
Scarlet, Cornwall
Best for: a back-to-nature hideaway
This is a grown-ups-only, wood-and-glass hotel overlooking the deliciously flat and firm-sanded beach at Mawgan Porth – and it takes its eco-credentials seriously. Must-dos include wake-up dips in the natural reed-cleaned pool, evenings spent watching the sun sink down into the sea from the clifftop hot tub, and blissful Ayurvedic-inspired rituals in a tented treatment room, before sipping lemon verbena tea while suspended from a cocoon-like pod in the relaxation lounge. There are also complimentary daily yoga and Tai Chi classes, and endless coastal hikes right on the doorstep.
The spa’s signature treatment, the Solo Journey, will be appreciated by spa-goers who can’t quite put their finger on what they need. The four-hour ritual starts with an in-depth chat with your therapist, rattling through your bugbears and working out your dosha to diagnose whether you need to de-stress, age gracefully, sleep better or get more energy. Then it’s off to the Hammam, before a soul-soothing guided meditation to slow down and calm the mind. The real highlight, however, is a 90-minute body treatment, totally tailored to you. A reassuringly thorough massage might use hot herb and oat-filled poultices to relieve tension, warm oil poured over the head to soothe the mind, or heated ceramic pods to get deep into knotted muscles. To cap it off, you’re given free rein in the cedar-wood sauna, steam room and pool, before a spa lunch based on the principles of Ayurveda, devised by brilliant head chef Jack Clayton – meaning you can indulge and detox at the same time. Staff have a can-do attitude – and there are few better spots to do your lengths as you watch the wild Atlantic roll in.
Address: Scarlet, Tredragon Road, Mawgan Porth, Cornwall TR8 4DQ
The Gainsborough Bath Spa, Bath
Best for: ancient treatments with a twist
No wonder there was so much excitement about this Bath arrival when it landed on the scene nearly 10 years ago. This is how to take the city's thermal waters in style, and there is nowhere else in Britain like it. To bathe in waters drawn deep from the earth, waters that have to be cooled rather than heated (they are naturally steaming hot, warmed by geothermal energy to between 69°C and 96°C, and bubble up through an artesian well directly from the aquifer that lies beneath the city), is a profound and decadent experience. The newly built colonnaded bathing atrium, sympathetically designed and flooded with natural light, is right on the site of the original Roman Baths upon which the city was founded.
The hotel itself is glossy, big and bold. It won't win any prizes for exciting or quirky design, and the atmosphere is sadly a little corporate, but it is exactly what high-swinging Americans will want in their city break. The baths are open exclusively to hotel guests for a couple of hours each morning and evening; outside of these times you need to book a spa treatment to use them, even if you're staying at the hotel, which initially seems a little mean but averts overcrowding. There's a whole circuit set out: it takes about an hour and includes increasingly warm pools, cold shower hoses to blast the lymphatic system, steam rooms, saunas, an ice cove and, finally, the triumphant main atrium pool with various double seats and powerful massage jets, the ultimate being the overhead shoulder blasters. Staff are on hand to remind you how to use the circuit and you can pick between drinking gentle lavender-scented water or little liquid chocolate shots. And the point of it all? It's fair to say that simply floating and larking about in the pools will annihilate stress, but the mineral-rich water is also a remedy in itself: good for dry skin, good for joint pain, good for muscle tension, arthritis and rheumatism. No wonder they offer private aquatic body treatments where, in the strong arms of a therapist, you are stretched and swished about in the water; it's deeply relaxing for both mind and body.
Other highlights include the Aroma Bar, where you can make up your own personalised sachet of aromatherapy-oil-infused salts (use them in the sauna), and – in a nod to the company's roots – the signature massages that leave you smelling of lemongrass. Thoughtfully conceived and sensitively executed, it is smart, but with a heart. Every member of staff is willing you to have a good time, all of them are 100 per cent behind the vision. You can't help but feel the Romans would be proud.
Address: The Gainsborough Bath Spa, Beau Street, Bath BA1 1QY
Barnsley House, Gloucestershire
Best for: jaded city dwellers
This Cotswolds beauty has long drawn burnt-out weekenders looking to unfurl in a proper pocket of piece. The hotel grounds are a lovely mix of ridiculously picturesque formal gardens, sun-trap terraces and kitchen gardens, where a family of chickens strut about and chefs from The Potager restaurant pick fresh vegetables in preparation for the day’s service (expect simple, beautifully-cooked dishes championing locavore produce, such as Gloucestershire Old Spot pork belly with apples from the orchard and potatoes from the veg patch). Rooms are cosy, with thick duvets on the beds, traditional stone fireplaces and fresh mint on hand for late-night tea and movie nights, and there’s a large film library to borrow a DVD from.
And then there’s the spa. Tucked away in a quiet corner of the hotel’s gardens, it has dry stone walls and bunches of herbs hanging from the beams – a nod to the hotel’s affection for nature, the great outdoors, and heavy use of botanical ingredients from the gardens (you’ll find a spring of lavender on your treatment bed, as well as soul-stirring views of the Cotswolds from each treatment room). Elemis facials are tailored exactly to your individual concerns; there’s collagen-stimulating therapies for worries about sneaky lines and wrinkles, an antioxidant-rich superfood mask for stressed, winter-lashed skin and contouring for sagging jowls. Afterwards, wallow in the outdoor hydrotherapy pool, sauna or steam room – or fall asleep in one of the prettiest relaxation rooms anywhere. It’s the most peaceful after-care package you can imagine – and the ultimate get-away from the hurly-burly of city life.
Address: Barnsley House, Cirencester, Gloucestershire GL7 5EE
Tim Evan-CookSoho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire
Best for: party animals
When Soho Farmhouse landed in the Cotswolds all those years ago, it brought us cosy cabin cool on an epic scale. The members’ club/hotel/hamlet is as close to an American ranch as you’ll get in England – and what’s clever is that the rough-around-the-edges look (giant cartwheel lights, mounted cow horns, troughs as sinks in the loos) is entirely in keeping with the have-fun, wholesome feel of the place. Wooden cabins and huts are proper Little House On The Prairie hideaways, built along the banks of a lake and ringed by pretty meadow flowers, with steel baths on the veranda, rocking chairs and a little kitchenette with jars of homemade biscuits and stacks of liquor. You may never want to move.
But even if you do skip the countless restaurants, deli, homeware shop, cinema, tennis courts and stables, you must make it to the spa. The vibe here is upbeat and fresh, and the music funky; you can drink Prosecco with pals and natter by an open fire, and there’s even an outdoor deck for massages with a view. In the beautiful Boathouse, there’s an indoor-outdoor pool, steam room, ice room and sauna, and if you book a private Onsen-bath in the shiny new Lazy Lake area you can spend an afternoon leaping between hot and cold-water pools (immersion therapy is proven to improve circulation, reduce inflammation and boost your mood) and ordering picantes straight to your tub.
All the Cowshed signature thrills are available in oasis-like therapy rooms, with bare brick walls and white-painted tongue and groove: immaculate pedicures, facials using the Soho Skin range (a new performance-focused in-house skincare brand) mud rasuls to exfoliate and cleanse, and the ever-popular maternity treatments. There’s a regularly rotating programme of residencies too, including cool London barbers Curfew, and Sarah Bradden, who’s brought her signature Bradden Method (which is rooted in Chinese acupuncture to help sculp, tighten and reduce the signs of ageing) to the Cotswolds. If you’re feeling active after all that R&R, you could hop on a bicycle and fly through the gorgeous countryside, but really, coming here is all about getting lost in the wilderness, and fighting for survival in the smartest surroundings imaginable,
Address: Soho Farmhouse, Great Tew, Chipping Norton OX7 4JS
Now read our full review of Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire
Yeotown, Devon
Best for: effective cleansing
This gorgeous converted farm near Barnstaple was created by reliably good vinyasa-flow yoga teacher Mercedes Ngoh Sieff and her husband Simon, your charming surfer host. They'll have you working hard on the Yeotox, the five-day health and fitness escape that runs each week from Wednesday to Sunday. The focus is on the state of the mind just as much as that of the body. You're given a mental cleanse by being encouraged to let go of planning and scheduling, and activities include meditation to work on clearing the mind and cultivating a cheerier outlook on life.
Foggy brains are blasted daily with sea air on coastal hikes. Trainers will have sporty guests running stretches of the beach, while anyone less able can amble at their own pace. There is energising core fitness, yoga-inspired stretching and qigong sessions for body strength. Each day concludes with a muscle-melting massage from unfussy local therapists and a sauna session. The dairy-, wheat-, gluten-, caffeine-, alcohol- and meat-free menu is exceptionally good, from the broccoli, orange and ginger Yeotini to the spring green pea soup. At the end of the week sign up for the online health tips to keep up the good work.
Address: Yeotown, Snapper, Devon EX32 7JY
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House, Lake District
Best for: splendid isolation
When this hotel opened over 30 years ago, it was that rare thing in the Lake District: somewhere to stay that was all about indulgence – sophisticated interiors, big pillowy beds, memorable food. Until then, visitors made do with damp slate cottages and packed lunches because the whole point about the Lake District was that you came to scale its handsome fells and leap from rock to rock across its thundering waterfalls. The Jetty Spa at the Lake House, then, is a rarer thing still: a place that celebrates the great indoors. It is designed, quite beautifully, for two, and the idea is that you disconnect from the world and reconnect with each other. Therapists create a blend of aromatherapy oils to your taste: muse over black pepper and mandarin, frangipani and ylang-ylang. While these are mixed, off you pootle through the gardens to the swimming pool, which is bathtub-hot and yours alone, along with a sauna. Book a Spa Lodge or Spa Suite room, and you’ll even have your very own private en-suite spa space, complete with a treatment room, steam room and hot tub.
Then to the spa itself, a Scandi-style wooden cabin, cantilevered over the shore of Gilpin Lake. The treatment room doors can be opened out to the water, so you can gaze past your feet at the moorhens flipping bottom-up as an adept therapist works away tension from your head. Afterwards, in the tiny boathouse, there are furry throws to burrow under, more lake views and an afternoon-tea stand piled with sandwiches and cakes.
Address: Gilpin Hotel and Lake House, Crook Road, Windermere LA23 3NE
Thyme, Gloucestershire
Best for: a soul-soothing country escape
The British country-house hotel scene seemingly gets more cluttered by the week, so it’s particularly thrilling to come across a place with genuine, heartfelt soul. Truly family-owned and run, Thyme’s owners are hands-on to the extent they’ve even designed the wallpaper in the bedrooms and sourced the wild watermint pumped into their very own spa and beauty brand, Bertioli. This was their family home first and foremost, but bit by bit they took over more golden-syrupy buildings in the preposterously pretty village of Southrop, turning Thyme into a perfect little Cotswolds hamlet ringed by acres of rural bliss. There’s a buzzy restaurant, the Ox Barn – quite the destination in these parts – a moody bar with chairs made to resemble the rare breed sheep grazing in the parkland, a cookery school where classes begin in the vast kitchen garden, and even a pub – which just so happens to be Kate Moss’s local.
And then there’s the spa: stone-walled, sage-shuttered and as gorgeous as it is simple. A short but carefully-considered treatment menu offers facials, massages and body rituals by the all-organic brand Aurelia London, but the real reason you should visit is the new Botanical Bothy. A deeply spoiling spa-within-a-spa, it’s designed for just one – or two if you’re willing to share it with your partner. Its signature treatment is rooted in the healing powers of breathwork, but there’s absolutely nothing preachy or woo-woo about it. Backed by science, it taps into breathing techniques clinically proven to reduce stress and manage anxiety, before segueing into heavenly herbal poultice massage, lymphatic body brushing and a gentle hair wash. Just when you think it’s all over, you’re led into an idyllic private herb garden, where your therapist runs you a bubble bath and leaves you to sit by the fire sipping thyme and honey tea. This is deeply well thought-out, brilliantly light-touch wellness – with a generous smattering of understated countryside glamour to match.
Address: Thyme, Southrop Manor Estate, Gloucestershire GL7 3NX
Now read our full spa review of Thyme
Elliot Cooper @cooperexploresThe Dreaming, Powys
Best for: returning to nature
In spruce-filled grounds, cocooned by the Cambrian Mountains, Rhydoldog House has inspired many. A 15th-century monastery was founded here and, more recently, the handsome pistachio-and-cream-fronted mansion was home to the designer Laura Ashley. Rhydoldog’s latest custodian, songstress and environmental activist Charlotte Church, fell “obsessively in love”. After an 18-month renovation, she has created The Dreaming: healing retreats rooted in the restorative power of connection with the land. Designed to salve overstretched nervous systems, her three-day escapes feature tonic-for-the-soul activities, including singing to the land, cold-water dips, myth-telling and workshops with experts such as astrologer-academic Dr Kate Tomas. There are also silent discos at dawn, full-body sound journeys and sessions to tap into the age-old wisdom of the Welsh awen, a form of inspiration. The lack of phone signal encourages group bonding, which is pushed further by talking circles, shared rooms and plant-centric communal feasts. The seven storytelling bedrooms are all different: in one, bejewelled saris act as curtains; in another, a tatami-floored room channels Japanese ryokans. In the grounds, flowerbeds flow towards permaculture plots. The goal is for 80 per cent of produce used at The Dreaming to be grown onsite, with a hydromill and water-source heat pump already generating 60 to 70 per cent of the retreat’s energy. An accessible bedroom will open soon, and Church even offers a pay-what-you-can slot, so all can enjoy a new rhythm to reset, recharge and heal. Ianthe Butt
Address: The Dreaming Retreat, Rhydoldog House, Llansantffraed-Cwmdeuddwr, Rhayader LD6 5HB
Tom SullamThe Club by Bamford, Gloucestershire
Best for: private downtime
The hum around Bamford’s new private members’ club, enclosed in 3,500 acres of organic farmland in Gloucestershire, is growing into a loud buzz. Part wellbeing hub, part high-end gym, fitness zone and café, The Club by Bamford might be tucked quietly behind the Daylesford organic farm shop, overlooking the gentle grazing of cattle, but this is no obscure outpost. The Club has all the trimmings of an on-point London wellness establishment (while bagging much more acreage to sprawl). Natural finishes are at the root of the design, with the softness of timber predominating, as befits the rural context, but there’s enough smart contemporary sharpness to please the original Cotswolds set. Within these walls, the wellness offerings are impressively ambitious. There’s a 25-metre stainless-steel indoor pool, cryotherapy chamber and steam room, as well as outdoor ice barrels and a heated plunge pool. Medically-led treatments from Effect Doctors include IV infusions, blood testing and analysis, and even HRT referrals. As well as the fleet of personal trainers, there’s outdoor fitness that includes tyre-flipping, Olympic lifting, rope-climbing and padel tennis under the tutelage of Jack Hazlewood of Padel Shift (who has a devilish serve and the patience of a saint). The menu at The Nest offers a health enthusiast’s version of Daylesford’s traditional farm-fed goodies: a solid selection of salads and smoothies signed off by nutritionists. Louisa Parker Bowles
Address: The Club by Bamford, Moreton-in-Marsh, GL56 0YG
Combe Grove, Somerset
Best for: woodland wanderings
The sun is slanting through the trees, and the birdsong is operatic. Days at Combe Grove start with walks in 70 acres of woodland and meadow to reset circadian rhythms. This new centre outside Bath has an ambitious and heartfelt purpose. It’s not a spa, nor a retreat, but bills itself as a Centre for Health and Wellbeing, giving guests the tools and encouragement to make seismic changes. It focuses on metabolic health: the “engine of life”, which, once sorted, causes weight to balance, skin to glow, and mood to lift. Further specialist options focus on pre-diabetes, menopause, gut health and fertility. Combe nods to the European medispas but, despite having a GP, it coaches and signposts rather than diagnosing and prescribing. The process lasts a year (with repeated tests and support), kickstarted by a week’s stay. Mornings revolve around talks on nutrition and the roots of metabolic health (movement, sleep, mindset, environment), while afternoons are for pool and gym time, treatments and relaxation. Eating is kept to an eight-hour, low-carb window. The practitioners are world-class – it’s hard to pick one, but structural integration therapist Nicki O’Clarey is a magician when it comes to improving posture and movement. The house, a mellow 18th-century manor, is a work in progress. Bohemian exuberance (Timorous Beasties wallpaper and ombre sofas) lingers from its previous iteration, standing in contrast to nature-chic bedrooms and treatment rooms in The Barn. The Map Room café has a Northern Californian vibe, dispensing protein brownies and turmeric lattes. Helen Aylward Smith, who set up Combe Grove as a business within a charitable trust, has a grand, game-changing vision, and this feels like just the start. Jane Alexander
Address: Combe Grove, Brassknocker Hill, Bath BA2 7HS