The 15 best spas in the UK
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.
1. 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
Price: Doubles from £385Now read our full spa review of The Newt in Somerset**
2. 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
Price: Doubles from £348
Craig Fordham3. Chewton 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
Price: Doubles from £375Now read our full review of Chewton Glen
4. 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
Price: Doubles from £570Now read our full review of Coworth Park
5. 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
Price: Doubles from £435
Viktor Kery6. Fairmont 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
Price: Doubles from £363
7. 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
Price: Doubles from £375Now read our full review of Lucknam Park
8. 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
Price: Doubles from £309
9. 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
Price: Doubles from £225
10. 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
Price: Doubles from £234
11. Calcot & Spa, Gloucestershire
Best for: all the family
This place is as comforting and life-enforcing as being enveloped in the warm embrace of a best friend who immediately knows exactly how to calm your screaming baby. Indeed, many a new mother has resurfaced here for the first time in months. Of the 35 rooms, 13 are dedicated family rooms, some with twin rooms and space for a cot, others, the split-level suites, which have a separate sleeping area for children and bathrooms on both floors. Squidgy edges, proper blackout blinds and a whizzy monitor that connects to the reception desk really show how much this hotel knows about looking after little ones.
But beyond the sterilisers, high chairs, cots and changing mats all on hand, and the impressive Ofsted-registered crèche, the real highlight is the spa: one of the most consistently excellent in the country. Top treatments include the Aromatherapy Associates Rose Facial and the essential back, neck, shoulder and scalp massage: great for stiff computer shoulders. There's also a great little gym, punchy studio classes (including everything from yoga to hula-hooping), an indoor heated pool with views of Laurie Lee fields, and 220 acres of countryside to explore with a dedicated trim trail. You can borrow bicycles for all ages, including tow-alongs for toddlers. Tire yourself out before a lazy wallow in the outdoor hot tub, warmed by a nearby blazing fire, with a protein shake, fresh juice or glass of bubbly in hand. Like life before children.
Address: Calcot & Spa, Near Tetbury, Gloucestershire GL8 8YJ
Price: Doubles from £299Now read our full review of Calcot Manor & Spa
12. 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
Price: Doubles from £439
Tim Evan-Cook13. Soho 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
Price: Piglet cabins from £295 per nightNow read our full review of Soho Farmhouse, Oxfordshire
14. 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
Price: A five-day retreat costs £2,200 full board, including all activities and massages.
15. 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
Price: Suites at the Lake House cost from £485 per room per night, with breakfast included.
16. 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
Price: Doubles from £360Now read our full spa review of Thyme