It’s official: we’ve fallen in love with feeling healthy. According to the Global Wellness Institute, the UK is the world’s fastest-growing wellness market, with Brits spending an average £2,500 a year on wellbeing and fitness.
One of the most enjoyable ways to stay out of the doctor’s surgery has to be a spa break. Traditionally, we’ve looked abroad for healthy holidays. However, in the past few years UK hoteliers have invested heavily in dazzling wellbeing complexes — so you don’t have to endure that debilitating airport experience any more.
There’s an impressive depth and daring individuality to the recent additions. Newcomers include Raffles London at the OWO where millions have been lavished on four floors of next-level beauty and fitness; a forest-inspired spa at Middleton Lodge in North Yorkshire, with Michelin-starred food; while, for the more experimentally inclined, there’s the Dreaming Retreat, a back-to-nature retreat in Powys, owned by Charlotte Church, the singer turned holistic guru.
With the UK spa scene in such robust health, it’s the perfect time for us to launch The Times and Sunday Times 50 Best UK Spas guide. Obviously, excellent treatments, knowledgeable therapists and results-driven skincare ranges are the non-negotiables for inclusion, but we’ve also prioritised thoughtful design, comprehensive facilities and inventive health-focused cuisine. Spas have to be attached to an equally fabulous hotel too, because nobody stays in a bathrobe for the duration.
Advertisement
We’ve divided the country into ten regions: London, southeast, southwest, central, east, northwest, north and northeast England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Our 22 writers have travelled from the Highlands to the coasts of Cornwall to find the best stays for every taste, budget and location that offer something a bit special.
At a glance — this year’s winners
• Lime Wood Hotel, Hampshire — Overall winner and southeast England spa of the year
• Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire — Central England spa of the year
• Galgorm, Co Antrim — Northern Ireland spa of the year
• Raffles London at the OWO — London spa of the year
• Hope Street Hotel, Liverpool — Northwest England spa of the year
• Old Course Hotel, Fife — Scotland spa of the year
• Middleton Lodge Estate, North Yorkshire — North and northeast England spa of the year
• The Norfolk Mead, Norfolk — East England spa of the year
• The Dreaming Retreat, Powys — Wales spa of the year
• Yeotown, Devon — Southwest England spa of the year
Southeast England
Lime Wood Hotel, Hampshire
Overall winner and southeast England spa of the year
This country house hotel in Lyndhurst was bankrolled by Jim Ratcliffe, one of the richest people in the UK. As soon as you sweep up the drive and get your first look at its elegant mock-Georgian façade you can tell he didn’t stint on any aspect of this thoroughly modern mansion. There’s bespoke furniture, Tracey Emin art, dinner by Angela Hartnett (one of the country’s best-loved chefs) and bedrooms that are five-star cocoons. The spa is equally lavish, though its real treasure is something money can’t buy — stress-busting views over the New Forest’s ancient oaks. Organic treatments, effective fitness classes and addictive spa cuisine all do their bit to ensure that you will leave with an inner and outer glow.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £495, mains from £15, 60-minute treatments from £140, spa day-pass from £185; limewoodhotel.co.uk
Fairmont Windsor Park, Surrey
Close to Windsor Palace, Windsor Great Park and the spot where Magna Carta was sealed in 1215, this outpost from the luxury group Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is in the heart of ancient royal landscapes on the Surrey-Berkshire border. Once a grand private home, the Fairmont group refurbished and reopened the Victorian building in January 2022. Nods to the site’s original opulence run through every inch of the six-floor building, its 251 rooms and the seven restaurants that cater for couples and families. A 2,500 sq m spa spans two floors beneath the main hotel and has stellar fitness facilities and lavish treatments, from liquid gold facials to a beautiful Himalayan salt room. That said, Fairmont Windsor Park doesn’t take itself seriously — there’s a traditional sweetshop in the lobby, family-favourite board games and inventive outdoor play areas in the woods.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £450, mains from £34, 60-minute treatments from £180, spa day-pass from £120; fairmont-windsorpark.com
Ockenden Manor, West Sussex
Turning into the narrow lane, lined with Tudor timber-framed cottages, that leads towards Ockenden Manor — on the edge of Cuckfield village — it is hard to believe that you are just five minutes from the decidedly less pretty commuter belt station of Haywards Heath. The Manor itself is as contradictory as its surroundings. Think of it as a hotel in two parts: an Elizabethan manor with traditional-style rooms and a restaurant, plus a standalone, ultra-modern spa block with contemporary suites. The charm here isn’t just Ockenden’s tucked-away but easy-to-get-to location, but that it’s privately owned. As one of three hotels in the Historic Sussex Hotels group, its reputation rests on warm service, innovative treatments and being an important part of the community for residents too.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £230, two courses from £59, 60-minute treatments from £122, spa day-pass from £225; hshotels.co.uk
Advertisement
Careys Manor, Hampshire
This is one of those spa hotels that’s more about fun and relaxation than detoxing and getting too serious about health, meaning you will eat well and can have a drink if you wish. Extended around the lovely 18th-century country manor house hotel, the large, Thai-themed SenSpa has a great pool area and wonderful Thai therapists, plus a fabulous Thai restaurant. A gorgeous location right in the heart of the New Forest means it would be madness to waste time in the gym (good as it is) when you could be running along the forest paths with a go-faster personal trainer. There’s something of the Nineties health farm about it, but it ticks all the boxes.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £210, mains from £20, 30-minute treatments from £79, spa day-pass from £149; careysmanor.com
Pennyhill Park, Surrey
Whether the sun’s shining or not, lounging by Pennyhill Park’s (heated!) outdoor pool surrounded by lavender beds feels less like Bagshot and more like Barcelona. The pool, plus the seven others in the sprawling spa resort, are the highlight of this well-loved 19th-century country house hotel an hour and a half outside London. It’s the sort of place where a branded robe is as much a uniform as Hunter wellies. Day visitors, hotel guests and spa members come for its 4,000 sq m spa stocked with Natura Bissé and Comfort Zone products; fitness studios; and vast thermal suite … all set in 120 acres of rolling Surrey parkland. The hotel encompasses the historic ivy-covered main house and various outbuildings, dressed in country-cosy wood and modern gold, silver and purple. Completing the picture is the Michelin-starred restaurant Latymer and the casual English garden-style bistro Hillfield, with views across the grounds.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £440, mains from £34, 60-minute treatments from £115, spa day-pass from £275; exclusive.co.uk
South Lodge, West Sussex
Near Horsham, this wisteria-clad neo-Jacobean mansion and its lush gardens were commissioned in the 1880s by Frederick DuCane Godman, a keen Victorian plant collector. The hotel’s latest addition gives a thoroughly modern spin to its botanical legacy, a showstopping £14 million spa that celebrates the power of plants and the great outdoors. The stand-alone retreat has 4,000 sq m of state-of-the-art ways to get a glow, from flower-powered facials to spin classes and (heated) wild swimming, all wrapped up in lawns that tumble languidly into the South Downs. The 96 bedrooms and eight lakeside lodges also merge modern and traditional styles, while the dining includes Michelin-starred and dairy-free restaurants.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £415, mains from £18, 60-minute treatments from £140, spa day-pass from £255; exclusive.co.uk
Heckfield Place, Hampshire
At Heckfield Place you soon realise the strength of emphasis on the natural and the organic, from the biodynamic estate farm that supplies ingredients to the two restaurants and spa café, to the homegrown Wildsmith line of spa products, created when no other brand hit the spot. It’s all very much in keeping with the “no rush” ethos of the hotel, which opened near Hook in 2018 after years of delay while roof tiles were perfected and bathrooms were repeatedly removed and redone. Take your time, is the ethos. The Bothy by Wildsmith (Heckfield-speak for “the spa”) was much the same, finally opening in April 2023 in a building extended out — and down into the ground — from the old gardeners’ quarters. Four-hour sessions give guests time for treatments, saunas, swimming and endless soothing estate views.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £600, mains from £36, 60-minute treatments from £200; heckfieldplace.com
Chewton Glen, Hampshire
This grande dame is the epitome of English country house hotels, a sprawling 18th-century manor set in 130 manicured acres of New Milton where the antiques and ruby-red carpets can sometimes feel more 1924 than 2024. It’s a dab hand at a discreet nip and tuck though, so there’s a laid-back brasserie from the TV chef James Martin as well as a new approach at the spa, including trendy treatments featuring medicinal mushrooms and CBD as well as a future-facing attitude towards children and wellbeing. The New Forest and Highcliffe beach are on the doorstep for some green therapy.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £405, mains from £24, 60-minute treatments from £145, spa day-pass from £225; chewtonglen.com
Advertisement
North and northeast England
Middleton Lodge Estate, North Yorkshire
North and northeast England spa of the year
Take one sumptuous Georgian country estate with 200 acres of towering beech and timeless oak. Then add a designer who ignores that it’s in the North Yorkshire town of Richmond and sprinkles interiors with generous measures of French-inspired flair. Throw in award-winning chefs who offer Michelin green star dining with glimpses of moors through the restaurant windows and you have the recipe for a reet grand weekend. Fortunately, James Allison, the owner, hasn’t stopped there. He has recently ramped up the feelgood factor by opening a boutique spa that is the height of sophistication, ensuring a stay glides gracefully into champion territory.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £225, mains from £20, 60-minute treatments from £95, spa day-pass from £200; middletonlodge.co.uk
Grantley Hall, North Yorkshire
The opulent Three Graces Spa at Grantley Hall, a grade II listed Palladian-style hotel, is a 20-minute drive from Harrogate. The spa, which is favoured by elite athletes and celebrities, has cutting-edge facilities for sports fans including a cryotherapy chamber, an underwater treadmill, and a Nordic-inspired spa garden with ice baths, plus personalised fitness programmes. Treatments are from renowned spa brands ila (from the Cotswolds) and Natura Bissé (founded in Spain), while the 18m indoor pool, hydrotherapy experiences and body composition analysis ensure this luxurious Yorkshire Dales stay balances relaxation with self-improvement. The hotel retains many of its historic features, including marble fireplaces and oak panelling, but melds them with modern elements. Each of the 47 rooms are individually designed with bespoke furniture, lighting comes from Vaughan Designs and curated artwork showcases local artists.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £550, mains from £25, 60-minute treatments from £65, spa day-pass from £245; grantleyhall.co.uk
Laceby Manor, Lincolnshire
Set on a picturesque 150-acre estate with an 18-hole golf course, 25 minutes’ drive from the Lincolnshire coast, Laceby Manor is an adults-only retreat. Opened in July 2022, the spa’s architecture is Scandinavian-inspired with A-framed timber buildings, soothing wood-panelled interiors and modern takes on rolltop baths. Its centrepiece is a tiered outdoor area with a sleek pool that overlooks a natural swimming pond. With a daily guest limit of just 50, the space has a quiet, club-like feel. Accommodation ranges from lakeside suites with outdoor copper baths to lodges with hot tubs and glamping pods. While the vibe is high-end, Laceby is family-run and maintains an unpretentious charm. Service everywhere — including in the two restaurants and the golf clubhouse — is unobtrusive yet attentive. And that means feeling relaxed comes as naturally as breathing in the country air.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £169, mains from £18, 50-minute treatments from £90, spa day-pass from £139; lacebymanor.co.uk
Rudding Park, North Yorkshire
Sitting in 300 undulating acres of Harrogate parkland, Rudding Park is a spa for all seasons — lush with natural glory come spring and summer, cosseting and cosy when grasped and frosted by winter’s clutch. The estate was once a private hunting estate for Henry VIII, and a sense of that grandeur remains. The smart spa occupies multiple storeys and delivers myriad facilities, including the UK’s first rooftop spa. As much for locals as it is for those staying overnight, it features numerous saunas, glass-cabin relaxation rooms, loungers and pools surrounded by box hedging and mature plants. On the treatment front, the familiar — nurturing massages, exfoliating rose oil scrubs and vitamin-C facials — sit alongside quirky specials including a muscle-easing massage using golf balls to release tension, aufguss saunas (with essential oils) and forest bathing. Completing the package is a first-class fine-dining restaurant, spacious bedrooms and plenty of lounge areas in which to relax. Bucolic spa break, sorted.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £274, mains from £22, 50-minute treatments from £125, spa day-pass from £153; ruddingpark.co.uk
Seaham Hall, Co Durham
“Roll on, thou deep and dark blue ocean,” Lord Byron wrote in his epic poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. The writer may well have been inspired by the navy ribbon of the North Sea wrapped around Seaham Hall, the clifftop Georgian country house where he married in 1815. Those cracking views of Durham’s heritage coast are still magnetic, but most come for the indoor-outdoor spa where guests can be scrubbed and soothed with ocean-inspired treatments. The show stealer? That’s a toss-up between the glorious flower-filled spa garden with an infinity pool or the 23 fun and flamboyant suites where breakfast in bed is delivered at no extra charge. Poetry-worthy indeed.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £295, mains from £23, 60-minute treatments from £105, spa day-pass from £205; seaham-hall.co.uk
Advertisement
Broughton Sanctuary, North Yorkshire
Broughton is a stately home that venerates true nobility: nature. The mellow-stoned ancestral pile outside Skipton (you may recognise it from the BBC drama Gentleman Jack) has evolved into an unconventional wellbeing hub where the rewilding of the estate’s 3,000 acres of Yorkshire Dales subtly sloughs off guests’ 21st-century stresses. This place blurs boundaries so that you can self cater or dine at its plant-based café and meat-friendly pub and schedules are DIY rather than diarised, with the emphasis on the great outdoors and self-guided forest bathing, wild swimming and meditation rather than pampering massages and punishing detoxes.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Three nights’ self-catering for two from £720, mains from £16, 60-minute treatments from £50; broughtonsanctuary.co.uk
Northwest England
Hope Street Hotel, Liverpool
Northwest England spa of the year
The reclaimed cells of an old 1970s Liverpool police station isn’t the obvious place to find your Zen, but therein lies the charm of this stylish boutique spa in the Georgian Quarter. Consider it a subterranean haven of relaxation and restoration. The hotel proper is an eclectic trio of heritage buildings — the 1860s Venetian-style Carriage Works, a former School for the Blind, plus the old nick — and this add-on was revealed in 2021, its appeal lying in the range of modern treatments, super friendly and efficient service, and the lack of any pretence. From comforting anti-inflammatory CBD massages, to plumping facials harnessing the power of soluble collagens and firming cryotherapy masks, they’ve got you covered. After you have been buffed, balmed and bolstered, low-lit relaxation rooms await — an invigorating dip in the indoor-outdoor pool that flows into the inner courtyard brings you back to a rather lovely reality. With retro-modern bedrooms and quality dining options, it all adds up to a perfect city spa break.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £99, mains from £17, 50-minute treatments from £90, spa day-pass from £125; hopestreethotel.co.uk
Lodore Falls Hotel, Cumbria
The panoramic views over Derwentwater and the bracken fells beyond mean that relaxation is a given at this Victorian manor hotel in Borrowdale, even before you’ve stepped into its Scandi-style spa. Add the glorious Cumbrian landscape to a soak in the outdoor heated infinity-edge hydrotherapy pool or a session in the glass-fronted Finnish sauna and you’ve got a wellness formula that is hard to beat. The nature-focused spa was added to the slate-fronted hotel in 2018, with 22 stylish suites, and it’s been popular with day visitors and overnight guests since. Should you want an extra dose of Mother Nature, several lovely walking trails beckon from the hotel’s doorstep too (and you are only an hour’s walk or a ten-minute drive from Keswick). However, there’s plenty to persuade you to stay inside, from excellent restaurants (one upmarket and bistro style, the other pan-Asian) to comfortable, recently refurbished rooms and cosy sitting areas. The hotel has been operational since 1870 and its trademark attraction — the Lodore Falls waterfall, which runs directly from the hills behind and then through the hotel grounds — has made it a tourism destination for centuries.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £203, mains from £22, 50-minute treatments from £95, spa day-pass from £85; lakedistricthotels.net
Rookery Hall Hotel & Spa, Cheshire
The resident peacock may fan out a welcome with his feathers as your car sweeps up the drive at this Georgian country house hotel outside Nantwich, setting a suitably preening tone for your stay. The 19th-century mansion, set in 38 acres of parkland, has plenty of old-world charm, from the dining room’s carved winged cherubs to the grade II listed corner tower’s pavilion roof, but the former stables brings it galloping into the 21st century. It is now a sleek spa, with a glass-roofed hydrotherapy pool, indulgent treatments and exercise options from spin classes to qigong on the lawn, the latter with an audience of unimpressed wildlife.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £239, mains from £25, 55-minute treatments from £90, spa day-pass from £135; handpickedhotels.co.uk
Manor House Hotel, Cheshire
Crewe may not instantly spring to mind when you think of a wellness break, but hold your nerve. From the alfresco pool of this adults-only spa, a 15-minute drive from the famous railway town, the views are of flowers and fields rather than platforms and trains. Built around a 17th-century farmhouse, the spa celebrates the English country garden, but in thoroughly modern fashion so there’s a swim-up pool bar and a DJ working the decks as well as saunas, hot tubs, a meditation chamber and a Wim Hof-inspired cold plunge tub. The latter is appropriate as there’s nothing to do at this 52-room hotel except chill.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £142, two courses from £30, 60-minute treatments from £85, spa day-pass from £180; manorhousealsager.com
Advertisement
Armathwaite Hall, Cumbria
Featuring beautiful Bassenthwaite Lake and Skiddaw mountain, Armathwaite Hall Hotel and Spa offers the ultimate natural therapy with its views. But you’ll want to do more than drink in the scenery at this magnificent, crenellated 17th-century pile in the less touristy northern lakes near Keswick. Spread across 400 woodland acres, the estate is a self-contained resort, with a destination spa, classic country pursuits and a fantastic wildlife park to which guests have discounted entry. Charming, friendly service is a given and the rooms are a mix of contemporary and ultra-traditional, split between the main house and a newer garden wing.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £295, mains from £24, 55-minute treatments from £95, spa day-pass from £175; armathwaite-hall.com
Carden Park Hotel, Cheshire
The mile-long drive to this sprawling mock Tudor mansion near Chester snakes through its Jack Nicklaus-designed championship golf course, signalling that this 197-room megaresort is definitely about tee time. But its glamorous standalone spa, opened in 2020 and with outdoor pamper playground, means it is as much about ginger shots as chipped shots. This country estate aims to tick all boxes, so there’s archery, air rifle shooting and an aerial obstacle course if you want to crank up the adrenaline, or 1,000 acres of lush landscaped gardens including a sculpture park and a vineyard, to take it down to a more leisurely pace.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £149, mains from £17, 50-minute treatments from £99, spa day-pass from £255; cardenpark.co.uk
Scotland
Old Course Hotel, Fife
Scotland spa of the year
Perched on the St Andrews shoreline overlooking one of the world’s most famous golf courses, this spa is anything but under par. It has just undergone a significant renovation: the blush-pink changing rooms now feel like a chichi beauty salon, with Dyson hair appliances and designer furniture, while the year-round roster of events (cold-water retreats, anyone?) anchor it to its coastal location. On top of the 20m pool, an icy plunge pool, brand new sauna and plant-focused café is the KLAFS Espuro Experience — the only one in the UK — in which mountains of nourishing foam pour from the ceiling of a converted steam room, ready to be scooped up and smoothed over the skin (or made into a Santa beard).
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £250, mains from £15, 50-minute treatments from £165, spa day-pass from £90; oldcoursehotel.co.uk
Schloss Roxburghe Hotel, Scottish Borders
Take one faded Victorian castle hotel, add a multimillion pound investment from new German owners, and what you have is Schloss Roxburghe, a seriously high-end pretender to Gleneagles’ crown as Scotland’s best destination hotel. The spa is the star of an ultra-modern new wing that also houses a gym, a buzzing bistro and 58 contemporary guest rooms — adding a slick 21st-century vibe that marries well with the castle’s quiet grandeur. Lording it over 300 immaculately landscaped acres near Kelso, the hotel has an excellent 18-hole golf course and a superb country sports school — teaching fly fishing, clay shooting and the like — plus 51 new self-catering cottages and a kids’ club.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £190, mains from £23, 60-minute treatments from £135, spa day-pass from £70; schloss-roxburghe.com
Cameron House, West Dunbartonshire
Cameron House’s location on the southwest banks of Loch Lomond is its greatest asset. There’s a wind-whipped, elemental feel to the 400-acre estate in Alexandria that makes it feel much further than 22 miles from Glasgow, helpfully ticking the wellness box before you have even set foot in the spa — the Cameron Club which, frustratingly, is three miles down the road. It’s all about the outdoors at this gorgeous gabled and turreted lakeside hotel, surrounded by oak forest; rooms (including the spa) look out over the loch. Guests are encouraged to walk, run, cruise or even take the seaplane to explore up to 110 miles of surrounding lochs, glens and mountain peaks. This is a Scottish retreat almost to the point of parody — expect bagpipers at the entrance, staff decked out in Johnstons of Elgin tartan, dark wooden decor with checked carpets and Highland Games experiences. As a result it is loved by Americans and big tour groups, who are ferried about in the hotel’s fleet of Audis.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £285, mains from £23, 60-minute treatments from £110, spa day-pass from £165; cameronhouse.co.uk
Archerfield, East Lothian
In this part of Scotland, the name Archerfield has something of a mythical status for golfers. But for the rest of the population it’s the playful, bursting-with-colour spa that really shines in this 550-acre coastal estate near North Berwick, 45 minutes’ drive from Edinburgh. Fletcher’s Cottage spa is one of Scotland’s best, in a historic walled garden filled with lavender, thistles and poppies, where the atmosphere is so laid-back it’s a wonder you don’t crawl out when you’re finished. The Archerfield estate’s collection of suites and lodges are bordered by two leading golf courses and fan out from the 17th-century main house, which guests are unfortunately unable to access. There’s a rambling, country-kitchen feel to the place that is moderated only by the estate’s fleet of Mercedes-Benz SUVs that whizz guests around from their rooms to the Clubhouse, the nucleus of the whole place.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £320, mains from £15, 60-minute treatments from £130; archerfieldhouse.com
Southwest England
Yeotown, Devon
Southwest England spa of the year
Fans describe The Salt Path, Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir set on the South West Coast Path, as life-changing. For a more literal life reset, there’s Yeotown. This 11-room boutique retreat in a converted 17th-century farmhouse on a 40-acre estate outside Barnstaple has hikes that take in some of the author’s favourite stretches on the route, including barefoot walks on Saunton Sands beach near Braunton and forest bathing in Heddon Valley’s temperate rainforests. Yeotown’s five-day group programmes also feature regular aerobic workouts and yoga, sound baths, nutrition and cookery workshops, indulgent massages, delicious, nutrient-dense dining and cunning longevity hacks so you leave ready to rewrite your medical history.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details All-inclusive doubles from £2,650pp for four nights including guided activities and three massages, additional 60-minute massages from £120; devon.yeotown.com
St Michaels Resort, Cornwall
In the seaside town of Falmouth in Cornwall, St Michaels offers a rejuvenating escape with ocean views over Gyllyngvase Beach and subtropical gardens — and that is before you have even got to the spa. The resort’s health club has a state-of-the-art gym, thermal experiences and the only Cornish salt steam room in the country. Don’t miss the outdoor barrel sauna overlooking the ocean and the invigorating cold-plunge pool, while the treatment menu at the Elemis spa offers everything from an intensely cleansing sea salt scrub, using ginger and lime, to 25-minute express facials. There are lovely new lodges in the gardens with balconies and Adirondack chairs, and while in general the hotel’s decor can feel a little dated in the main buildings and spa, bedrooms have a modern feel.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £150, two courses for £42, 60-minute treatments from £115, spa day-pass £50; stmichaelsresort.com
Boringdon Hall, Devon
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I stayed at Boringdon Hall on a journey through the West Country. You can easily imagine her swishing over the flagstones of the Great Hall in this grey-stone Tudor E-shaped manor house, peering down on her subjects from the dark-wood galleries and admiring the huge plasterwork coat of arms that still hangs above the fireplace. More than 400 years on, no doubt Good Queen Bess would enjoy the unashamedly modern extensions too, including the Gaia spa with its wing of wellness suites and Spatisserie restaurant. Don’t be daunted by Plymouth’s bridges and roundabouts (or the housing estate you have to pass through), as once you reach Boringdon you are on the edge of Dartmoor and facing the Tamar Valley. With Michelin-starred dining at the restaurant Aclèaf and numerous spots for relaxing, this spa stay may be near Devon’s naval city but is as far removed from a military-style boot camp as you can get.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £180, mains from £28, 60-minute treatments from £125, spa day-pass from £170; boringdonhall.co.uk
Scarlet Hotel, Cornwall
Mawgan Porth beach is a special spot on the north Cornwall coast. Sandwiched between the two headlands of Trenance Point and Beryl’s Point, it’s a half-moon carpet of gold sand that at low tide can stretch half a mile. It’s popular with surfers who come for the Atlantic breakers and also, thanks to the hotel set into the cliffs above it, with spa fans. The adults-only Scarlet was rebuilt into a sharply modern spa, restaurant and hotel set over five levels, and reopened in 2009. The eco-friendly ethos has endured; air-con-free bedrooms, a sea-facing open-air pool filtered only by reeds, and a bring-your-own flip-flops policy. Face and body treatments are rooted in Indian ayurveda and so make use of meditation practice and sound-therapy techniques, as well as essential oils. The food — particularly the seafood — is spectacular. With all rooms benefiting from coastal views, the Scarlet works for sunny summer weekends and cosy weather-watching winter breaks alike.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £335, three courses from £65pp, 60-minute treatments from £115, spa day-pass for two from £220; scarlethotel.co.uk
The Newt, Somerset
Like its semi-aquatic namesake, the Newt is a tricky thing to pin down. It is as much a working farm as it is two hotels, Hadspen (in a 17th-century stone manor) and the Farmyard (in a former grain barn). That’s all before you have taken in the Roman villa with a museum, plus acres of gardens. However, most of all it is a place to relax while surrounded by nature — and the spa, housed in a converted cowshed, is one of myriad rejuvenating tricks up the Newt’s sleeve. Arrive here feeling burnt out on a Friday evening and after a weekend of outdoor dips, massages, yoga and long walks you will head back into the world on Sunday afternoon fully revived.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £625, mains from £18, 45-minute treatments from £125, spa day-pass packages for members from £270; thenewtinsomerset.com
The Gainsborough Bath Spa, Somerset
For such a grand city centre hotel to feel hidden away is quite some trick, but it’s one the Gainsborough manages to pull off. Its handsome Georgian façade, all serious stone and portentous pillars, draws you in from an unassuming Bath side street to a somewhat labyrinthine world of understated sophistication, charming service and graceful rooms. The real magic, however, is in the beautifully warm, mineral-rich water that is drawn from deep below the earth’s surface and used in the subterranean Spa Village’s three thermal pools.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £295, 50-minute treatments from £150, spa day-pass from £195; thegainsboroughbathspa.co.uk
The Nici, Dorset
Bournemouth is revving up the English Riviera these days, thanks in large part to this high-energy art deco hotel. It has given the town’s bucket-and-spade image the defibrillator treatment, injecting Miami-style urban edge into the West Cliff’s sleepy seafront. Happily, the hotel’s sultry spa sanctuary will have the reverse effect on your nervous system. It offers treatments that will glide you gracefully towards snail’s-pace relaxation, backed up by facilities designed to bring about a chilled full stop. Batteries recharged, you will be ready to swan around its stunning outdoor pool, sip cocktails, shuck oysters and soak up its South-Beach-inspired party scene.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £180, mains from £17, 60-minute treatments from £100, spa day-pass from £85; thenici.com
Wales
The Dreaming Retreat, Powys
Wales spa of the year
A three-night getaway with a group of strangers might not sound relaxing, but give it a go at the Dreaming and you’ll come away feeling thoroughly refreshed. This wellness retreat, in the Nant Caethon Valley, near Rhayader, offers twice-weekly itineraries featuring everything from yoga and sound baths to silent discos and movie nights (no, this isn’t your standard massages-and-facials sort of place). It’s run by the singer turned hospitality entrepreneur Charlotte Church, who’s ploughed her savings into doing up the property and its 47 acres of grounds, all terraced lawns, spruce forests and dramatic waterfalls. Poor phone signal and no wi-fi mean you can properly switch off — and maybe even make some new pals.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Three-night all-inclusive retreat from £540pp; thedreaming.co.uk
St Brides Spa Hotel, Pembrokeshire
There’s no secret to the long-running success of St Brides. It’s staring you in the face the minute you walk through its sun-bleached, New England-style lounge. Because there, on the far side, is one of Britain’s loveliest hotel views — from the top of Saundersfoot’s sea cliffs and along the Pembrokeshire coast. After just five minutes on the terrace with a cup of tea, the knots in your back will be loosening. Add a couple of treatments in its spa and a spoil-me feast in the restaurant and, chances are, you’ll be feeling as calm as the sheltered waters below you.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £210 a night, mains from £20, 55-minute treatments from £88, 90-minute spa pass from £40; stbridesspahotel.com
Quay Hotel and Spa, Conwy
The Quay Hotel and Spa is no beauty — but purpose-built hotels rarely are. However, what it might lack in the looks department is more than made up for by its location in a plum, waterfront spot on Deganwy Marina overlooking the picturesque Conwy estuary in north Wales. The spa, integrated into the 80-room main hotel building, reopened in the spring after a much-needed refurbishment to justify having “spa” in the hotel’s name. It now offers a decent array of wellness and pampering facilities for hotel guests and a growing number of local members. A few tweaks here and there are still in the offing to fine-tune treatment times and introduce exercise classes.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £129, mains from £26, 60-minute treatments from £90, half-day spa pass from £59; quayhotel.co.uk
Northern Ireland
Galgorm, Co Antrim
Northern Ireland spa of the year
If there’s one colour associated with wellness it’s green, which you’ll find in abundance at Galgorm and its 450 glorious acres of farmland. Its thermal village traces the River Maine where guests soak in hot tubs overlooking the rapids and order glasses of champagne at the push of a button before retreating to shepherds’ huts and forest dens squirrelled away in woodland. The focus here is more on post-massage catch-ups and cocktails than sound baths and smoothies. Most staff are from the nearest village, Ballymena, and are as cheery as they are talented.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £190, mains from £13, 60-minute treatments from £95, spa day-pass from £89; galgorm.com
Finn Lough, Co Fermanagh
The Brothers Grimm would have found plenty of fairytale inspiration at Finn Lough. Guests follow a Hansel and Gretel-style woodland trail to cabins where you can try a mix of hot and cold experiences including aromatherapy saunas; consider a lake plunge too. Timed two-hour slots mean privacy is guaranteed — you are more likely to spot a squirrel than another human as you pad around the forest. Views are picture book-perfect too: the spa is swaddled in acres of countryside in gorgeous, green Co Fermanagh. The magic continues into the evening when you can get cosy under the stars in a bubble dome or snuggle up in a forest lodge (no evil witch or oven in sight).
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £185, mains from £24, two-hour spa pass from £85; finnlough.com
East England
The Norfolk Mead
East England spa of the year
This £3.5 million spa, which opened in August 2024, lies in the grounds of the Norfolk Mead hotel in Coltishall, ten miles north of Norwich. The novelty here is the UK’s first beer spa, but this state-of-the-art complex also offers a hydrotherapy pool, a foot spa and a steam room, an outdoor oasis with a sauna, a hot tub and cold water therapy. There’s also a therapy zone combining a mud room, treatment suites, a nail bar and a space-age relaxation area with S-shaped loungers and mood music. There is a restaurant and bar too, and if you’re wondering whether a small Norfolk hotel can compete with the world’s great spas, consider this — four days earlier I’d had a deep-tissue pummelling in one of the most expensive hotels in Morocco. The massage here was better.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £145, mains from £22, 60-minute treatments from £70, spa day-pass from £170; norfolkmead.co.uk
Marquis Suffolk
This small, wonderfully refurbished and extended hotel — parts of which date from the 17th century — is just north of Constable country in Dedham Vale and affords majestic views of the River Brett and the Suffolk landscapes beyond. The owner, local entrepreneur Steven O’Leary, has spent £15 million adding a luxurious boutique spa, more suites and revamped gardens. An Italian-inspired subterranean vaulted spa with an indoor and outdoor pool comes at an extra charge for guests (numbers are limited), but the serene surroundings and bliss-inducing treatments from high-end brands such as Natura Bissé and Oskia are worth forking out for. Once you have de-stressed, a drink in the cosy bar or new lounge — plus a meal at the hotel’s restaurant that serves modern British dishes made with seasonal ingredients from Suffolk and Essex — are just an amble away.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £229, mains from £22, 30-minute treatments from £75, half-day spa pass from £210; marquissuffolk.com
Bedford Lodge, Suffolk
Equinophobes, stay clear. Everyone else — riders, admirers or the simply indifferent — will warm to spa hotel Bedford Lodge, surrounded by paddocks and stables on the outskirts of Newmarket, known as the “headquarters” of British horse racing. Originally a Georgian hunting lodge, the hotel itself is basic but good value for money, and the same goes for the restaurant. The spa, a minute’s walk away, is more luxurious, but at a still-reasonable price. As you drift, prosecco in hand, from the ache-banishing hydrotherapy pool to the rooftop hot tub to a treatment room wafting woody aromas and playing twinkly piano music, you can’t help but feel even the horse haters would love it.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £135, mains from £21, 60-minute treatments from £95, spa day-pass from £95; bedfordlodgehotelspa.co.uk
Central England
Estelle Manor, Oxfordshire
Central England spa of the year
Sharan Pasricha and his wife, Eiesha Bharti Pasricha, the entrepreneurs behind Estelle Manor outside Oxford, take spa-ing seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they built a lavish spa with the same square footage as the Jacobean mansion. It’s not for any ordinary shoe though, as this place is the Jimmy Choo of wellness. Its modern-day take on Roman baths will leave you decadently de-stressed, while the gym’s precision workouts will have you primed to pose around the stunning outdoor pool, which overlooks 85 acres of pea-green countryside. Stay virtuous with ayurvedic “tapas” at the spa or surrender to carbs at its four restaurants. The big house has 34 swanky bedrooms, with 74 more, ranging from traditional to trendy, in the stables, kitchen garden and woodlands.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £550, mains from £20, 60-minute treatments from £180, three-hour spa pass from £95; estellemanor.com
Ragdale Hall Spa, Leicestershire
This red-brick Georgian country house near Melton Mowbray is home to a sprawling spa with 12 zones in the thermal area (including saunas, lavender-scented rooms, waterfall showers) and multiple pools. The jewel in the crown is the rooftop option with massage jets and far-reaching views, as well as a reading nook room just behind with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Guests spend all day in white robes, even at lunch. This is a place to let yourself completely relax. In addition to the spa and a serious number of treatment rooms, there are plenty of lounging spaces inside and out. An excellent wellness studio with innovative classes and breakfast delivered to your room complete the picture.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Full-board doubles from £620, 60-minute treatments from £96, spa day-pass from £143; ragdalehall.co.uk
Calcot & Spa, Gloucestershire
Swims, sports, snoozes, sustenance: this cosily renovated 14th-century country hotel near Tetbury — originally a tithe barn owned by Kingswood Abbey — has an ethos of “stay and play”. There’s a laid-back luxe ambience devoted to every dimension of relaxation, whether you spa to improve your wellness or choose to fully indulge each of your senses, including with hearty gourmet meals and fine wines. Set amid bucolic Cotswolds countryside, the spa’s focus on families has not sacrificed attention to stylish service and sophisticated detail, making it a simultaneously grown-up retreat for groups of friends or couples with enough space to allow children to remain remarkably inconspicuous to other guests.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £334, mains from £24, 55-minute treatments from £105, half-day spa pass from £175; calcot.co
Hoar Cross Hall, Staffordshire
The rusty red gables and turret water towers of this sprawling Elizabethan-style mansion outside Burton-on-Trent suggest tradition, but this old girl’s spa looks decidedly to the future. It was already home to one of Europe’s largest subterranean spas and has now transformed its Italian garden into a vast terrace complete with those prerequisites of 21st-century wellness: ice plunges beside a log-fired sauna. The hall, designed by the architect Henry Clutton, who redeveloped Covent Garden, has 43 neatly clipped acres for a preprandial stroll, or crank up the calorie-burning and get in some five-star forest bathing by biking or hiking in the nearby National Forest.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details All-inclusive doubles from £398, 60-minute treatments from £90, spa day-pass from £119; baronseden.com
Farncombe, Worcestershire
For multigenerational wellbeing that works for spa mavens, stressed-out executives, TikTok-dependent teenagers and grandparents who prefer a good walk to a massage, Farncombe’s 500 acres of fields and forests tick plenty of boxes. In the super-cute Cotswolds village of Broadway, the estate has plenty of room for three hotels, so you can sleep in simple shepherds’ huts, souped-up suites or affordable self-catering houses; and six restaurants serving everything from oysters to hot dogs. There’s award-winning pampering with a Scandi-style thermal suite and terrace hot tub for those staying at its two top hotels, while other guests can buy day-passes. Everyone can book spa treatments, group sessions at the holistic therapies centre and bonding outdoor adventures. You’ll leave feeling healthier and maybe even positive about that family Christmas get-together.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £225, mains from £21, 60-minute treatments from £115, spa day-pass from £110; farncombeestate.co.uk
Thyme, Gloucestershire
The name Thyme may first conjure up an image of the herb, but it’s also a play on the word time and a reminder to slow down. The Meadow Spa here encapsulates that feeling perfectly, with a particular focus on breathwork (the owner Caryn Hibbert used to be an obstetrician). This serene family-run hotel also has its own line of beauty products, Bertioli, inspired by the quintessential Cotswold setting in Southrop. The Water Meadow range, which blends river mint with eucalyptus, thyme and more, is beautiful — you’ll smell it everywhere you go from the candles dotted around the property. Look out too for the 400-year-old Cedar of Lebanon tree as you wander between the honeystone buildings that make it feel like a mini-village.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £430, mains from £25, 60-minute treatments from £145, spa day-pass from £265; thyme.co.uk
London
Raffles London at the OWO
London spa of the year
The Old War Office in Whitehall, once the capital’s political epicentre, has swapped spies for wellness warriors. The billion-pound conversion of Winston Churchill’s old stomping ground into a luxury 120-room hotel features four extraordinary floors devoted to health and fitness. As you struggle through a gruelling workout remember Churchill’s famous quote, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Although greater motivation may come from the thought of post-workout rewards such as a first-rate facial, a float in its fabulous pool and dinner by Mauro Colagreco, whose three-Michelin-starred Mirazur in Menton, France, is regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £900, mains from £28, 60-minute treatments from £220; raffles.com
The Lanesborough
First built in 1719 — and redesigned in 1825 by William Wilkins, the architect of the National Gallery — the Lanesborough has one of the best-known addresses in London, doorstepping Hyde Park Corner and overlooking the Duke of Wellington’s Apsley House. Once you are past the neoclassical façade, interiors feel like a gentlemen’s club — all giant chandeliers, wingback chairs and marble — with almost reverent service from staff. There’s even a regal hotel cat, Lilibet (don’t worry, she’s hypoallergenic), who you will find posing in the lobby. Topping it all off is the underground spa; opened in 2017, it has been designed to emulate a Roman bath house, which is perfect for escaping the tourist bustle of Knightsbridge.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £780, mains from £37, 60-minute treatments from £165, spa day-pass from £150; oetkercollection.com
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
It’s easy to waltz right past Mandarin Oriental Mayfair on the corner of Hanover Square without noticing it (as I did), but once inside it’s seriously eye-catching. A fabulous Ming green marble spiral staircase overlooks the restaurant (a light-filled atrium by day, a moody space serving Japanese plates by night) with its triple-height roof and grand wooden sculpture suspended from the ceiling. The artwork here created by the hotel’s executive chef Akira Back’s mother, Young Hee Back. At reception, you will be greeted with grand floral displays and fiery kombucha before heading down shiny corridors to plush bedrooms with vault-like heavy doors. Within, expect a choice of bathrobes, yoga mats and soft sofas for sinking into. The real draw, however, is the glorious subterranean spa bathed in golden light with standout treatments, a sleek, sexy pool, sauna, steam room and vitality pools.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £1,000, mains from £28, 90-minute treatments from £295; mandarinoriental.com
The Ned
Glam, slick and very cool, this is the absolute cat’s pyjamas of London spas, on the lower floor of a phenomenal classical building designed by Sir Edwin “Ned” Lutyens, constructed as the Midland Bank HQ in the 1920s. The global great and good rock up to stay, eat and spa at the Ned, now one of the hottest hotels (and members’ clubs) in town. It draws London’s movers and shakers too, many dressed up to the nines for cocktails in the old bank vault at night; they return by day for tweakments in the downstairs spa, which feels like backstage vintage Hollywood, with a dark, luxurious pool area. Standards of treatments (and therefore prices) are high, but this is an intoxicating place to chill and be seen.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details B&B doubles from £430, mains from £19, 60-minute treatments from £150, spa day-pass from £200; thened.com
Corinthia
There is no shortage of space at Espa Life, the Corinthia’s labyrinthine underground spa, which is set across four enormous, Italian marble-clad floors directly beneath this Westminster hotel. Since opening in 2011, it has remained one of the London’s most impressive spas, thanks to its memorable monochromatic design and complex treatment menu. Science-focused facials from the German brand Dr Barbara Sturm, which take place in one of 17 circular pods, are the highlight here. But with so much else to try (high-tech body treatments, sleep pods, heated loungers, and a sauna built into an epic glass-walled amphitheatre), the 3,300 sq m space has something to excite even the most experienced spa visitor. The hotel above, a short stroll from the Thames, is equally luxe, featuring celebrity chef-led restaurants including Kerridge’s Bar & Grill and an in-house florist that you smell before you see. The grand Victorian-era building once served as the fashionable Metropole hotel, reopening as the opulent Corinthia in 2011. No expenses were spared on the decor — the palatial lobby features an enormous 1,001-bauble Baccarat crystal chandelier — but modernly-appointed rooms still feel cosy and (aspirationally) homely.
Read the spa review in full and book a visit
Details Room-only doubles from £906, mains from £18, 90-minute treatments from £295, four-hour spa pass from £175; corinthia.com
Reviews by: Cathy Adams, Susan d’Arcy, Mike Atkins, Gabriella Bennett, Gemma Bowes, Julia Brookes, Liz Edwards, Lizzie Frainier, Pamela Goodman, Hannah Gravett, Blossom Green, Chris Haslam, Min Sett Hein, Claire Irvin, Laura Jackson, Harry Jameson, Jeremy Lazell, Sean Newsom, Huw Oliver, Lucy Perrin, Claudia Rowan and Alexandra Whiting
Become a subscriber and, along with unlimited digital access to The Times and The Sunday Times, you can enjoy a collection of travel offers and competitions curated by our trusted travel partners, especially for Times+ members
Sign up for our Times Travel newsletter and follow us on Instagram and X
