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Chewton Glen has been voted ‘Best Hotel in the British Isles’ and the traditional British restaurant has garnered numerous awards, but don’t let that sway you – Chewton Glen has to be experienced personally to be enjoyed properly. With a staff-to-guest ratio of two-to-one, it’s impossible not to feel like pampered royalty at this world-renowned boutique hotel in Hampshire. Combining the old-school elegance of the Jeeves & Wooster era with a style-sharp modern sensibility (treehouse suite, anyone?), this hotel, spa, restaurant and country club is as seductive as it is suave.
The spa is just minutes from the seaside and channels the coastal calm. Inside, there’s a 17-metre swimming pool, a hydrotherapy spa pool, cold drench showers, aromatherapy saunas and steam rooms; there’s also an outdoor whirlpool. Face and body treatments include a range of soothing massages, including classic Swedish and hot stone massage; there are also body treatments, including full-body scrubs and holistic Kundalini and aromatherapy treatments. You can also book pampering for two in one of the spa’s double treatment rooms.
Georgian grandeur gets a contemporary remake at Another Place – a handsome home turned family-friendly hotel in the Lake District national park. Fell-flecked scenery unfurls from every window, sloping down to a private lake shore and Ullswater’s sail-graced surface. Indeed, everything at Another Place flows back to the source, from the lake views you’ll spy from almost all 40 rooms to the Swim Club spa with its water-facing pool. On the lake-step, you’ll find running trails, horse-riding, cycling and kayaking – even wild swimming for the brave. But no pep talks needed for a trip to the Rampsbeck restaurant, which revels in regional produce, with local Herdwick lamb and Morecambe Bay shrimp. It’s Another Place, entirely…
After long lakeside walks, the spa is a sanctuary, with two treatment rooms and a treatment snug, where you can spruce up with manicures and pedicures. Massages, body scrubs, wraps and facials are available – even a Full Works option for head-to-toe pampering.
At first, you may not know what to make of Grantley Hall. Is it a stately countryside stay, a glitzy resort, a wellness retreat or a foodie haven? Luckily, this description-defying pad is all of the above, thanks to its three restaurants, highfalutin’ fitness centre and serene spa with two swimming pools. There’s even a va-va-voom nightclub, Valeria’s. And though the lavish interiors wouldn’t be out of place in a Mayfair members’ club, Grantley Hall’s heart is pure Yorkshire. The pride of place is evident in the lovingly restored original features, the playful ‘Taste of Home’ menu by local boy Shaun Rankin and the warm-as-a-cuppa welcomes.
The serene Three Graces spa is becoming a destination in itself. You could spend an entire day here sampling the Ila and Natura Bissé face and body treatments, then skipping from sauna to steam room to snow room to hydrotherapy pool. The boundary-pushing treatment menu also has reiki, reflexology, crystal healing and massages for mothers-to-be.
Originally a mediaeval hunting lodge way back in the 13th century, this New Forest manor was reclaimed for royalty by the Duke of Clarence in the 1740s. Since then, Lime Wood hotel has had another extravagant makeover, giving this stately pile an air of perfection, with landscaped grounds, devotedly designed interiors, a super spa and a tantalising restaurant to prove it.
The soul-soothing Herb House spa is spread across three floors, with assorted treatment rooms (eight single, two double and one for manis and pedis), a mud house, sauna, steam house, indoor pool with serene forest views, steamingly-hot outdoor pool, sun deck with a herb garden and the Raw & Cured café serving fresh smoothies, juices and other virtuous treats. The ‘Matt Roberts’ gym is fitted out with the latest equipment and you can take an extensive range of group fitness classes in the studio.
Handsome, historic Heckfield Place is an eco-friendly estate in the Hampshire countryside. It’s been a long time coming, but the wait was worth it: the 1790 building has had a masterful makeover, the sustainability mission is in full swing and there are endless opportunities for sitting in grand rooms and taking tea. Superstar chef Skye Gyngell (of Petersham Nurseries and Spring in London fame) is manning the kitchens (and the fire). Jane Austen lived down the road in Chawton – and this is a stately stay Mr Darcy would be proud to call home.
In the five treatment rooms at the Little Bothy Spa, the emphasis in on bespoke massages and facials that use ethically-sourced, all-natural products from the hotel’s own Wildsmith Skin range (named after the former head gardener, William Wildsmith), bountiful in nutrient-rich botanicals. Fitness devotees who flock to Bodyism’s famous Notting Hill classes can keep up their routines, too. Bodyism’s first-class personal trainers are on hand here for exercise inspiration, regular yoga and Pilates classes as well as nutritional advice.
To find out more, check availability or get our preferred rates from our partnership with Mr & Mrs Smith email travel@luxelifeandstyle.co.uk
