Editor's Choice Spas 2021
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Hartwell House
Aylesbury
The terracotta walls, arches and statues lend a Roman vibe to this spa set in the garden orangery. And after your pick from a range of Aromatherapy Associates therapies, you should feel like a Roman god or goddess.
From £200 per night
Chewton Glen
New Milton
If you feel a twinge after using the hotel’s golf course, you can book a massage using golf balls. There is something for everyone, with dance classes and kids’ treatments. There’s also an ozone-treated pool, hydrotherapy pool and hot tub.
Seaham Hall
Seaham
A destination spa with a boutique hotel attached, Seaham has at its heart a toasty 20-metre hydrotherapy pool. Designed according to feng shui principles, the spa comes with outdoor hot tubs, a variety of sauna and steam cabins and a modern gym.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
What could be better for the soul than swimming in the pool as shards of light penetrate the church-style windows of this boutique spa? A door opens on to a
walled garden for more relaxation after an Elemental Herbology treatment.
Summer Lodge
Evershot
Other spas embrace the darkness, but Summer Lodge is true to its name, with its pool and gym in an impressive light-filled conservatory. There are mindfulness classes, and both reiki and reflexology as well as Elemis treatments.
From £60 per night
Whatley Manor
Easton Grey
For extra effect, you can book a treatment in the Natura Bissé Bubble Suite, where filtered air is 99.95 per cent pure. As
well as an impressive inside/outside hydrotherapy pool, the spa has heated recliners in the tepidarium and thermal suite.
The Devonshire Arms
Skipton
There’s no need to venture into the Yorkshire Dales to get muddy when you can do so in the rasul temple, with different muds to treat the face, body and hair. The spa, in an ancient, adjacent barn, features a pool beneath a high beamed ceiling.
Lake Country House Hotel & Spa
Llangammarch Wells
Indulge in champagne and truffles – as a facial, rather than at dinner, although you do get a complimentary glass of bubbles too, putting the treat into this Temple Spa treatment. There is a hot tub overlooking the lake as well as a pool.
Mullion Cove Hotel
Helston
Forget whale music: at this cliff-top spa hotel, the lapping sea provides the relaxation soundtrack. With an outdoor pool and hot tub, seaweed treatments and a wall of windows to show off the view, it makes the most of the seaside setting.
Ilsington Country House
Newton Abbot
Wine isn’t just for dinner at this Dartmoor hotel: spa treatments use vinotherapy, based on the antioxidant qualities of grapes. You can enjoy a premier cru facial or a crushed cabernet body treatment and toast the healthy side of wine.
Editor's Choice Spas 2020
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Mallory Court
Leamington Spa
This Lutyens-style Arts and Crafts manor house with wood panelling and leaded windows presides over landscaped grounds, with lawns, ponds, rose and herb gardens.
Chewton Glen
New Milton
Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.
Dart Marina -
Dartmouth
Devoted to leisure and pleasure, Richard Seton’s spa hotel overlooking the Dart estuary is a perennial readers’ favourite.
Seaham Hall
Seaham
‘A wonderful place’, this Georgian mansion with a pedigree (Lord Byron was married to Anne Isabella Millbanke in the drawing room) stands in landscaped gardens overlooking Durham’s heritage coast.
Whatley Manor
Easton Grey
From the moment your car is valet-parked and luggage whisked to your room, you know this honeyed Cotswold manor house will deliver cosseting luxury – and star-spangled dining.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
This luxurious country house hotel (Relais & Châteaux) offers ‘indulgent’ rooms, Michelin-starred dining, spacious grounds, legions of staff, and ‘comfort in all the right places’.
Bingham Riverhouse
Richmond-upon-Thames
Bang on the banks of the Thames between Richmond and Petersham, this former Georgian mansion turned ‘classic English hotel with a modern twist’ sits in a riverside garden and terrace.
The Scarlet
Mawgan Porth
While children let rip at sister hotel Bedruthan (previous entry), all is serene at the adults-only Scarlet, ‘perfectly located overlooking the beach and ocean’, with Ayurvedic-inspired spa and outdoor hot tubs.
St Brides Spa Hotel
Saundersfoot
The panoramic views of Saundersfoot harbour and the coastline from this modern hotel above Carmarthen Bay are ‘exceptional’ – and the inward calm that washes over guests in the award-winning spa isn’t bad, either.
Longueville Manor
St Saviour
A sense of history pervades this 14th-century manor house, festooned with wisteria, which sits in landscaped grounds in a wooded valley.
Editor's Choice Spas 2019
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Congham Hall
King's Lynn
Fragrant herbs and flowers from the renowned herb garden infuse signature treatments in the Secret Garden Spa at this Georgian mansion. There’s a pool with floor-to-ceiling windows, a thermal suite, an outdoor hot tub.
Cliveden House
Taplow
Surely one of Britain’s most beautiful spas lies within old brick walls in the gardens of this Italianate mansion. Facilities include an indoor and (notorious) outdoor pool, a gym, hot tubs – an easy drive from London.
Seaham Hall
Seaham
A dramatic swimming pool with massage stations and a floor-to-ceiling glass wall overlooking the verdant grounds, an Asian herbal sanarium and an Indian steam room with amethyst crystals lie at the heart of this Georgian mansion’s award-winning spa.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
Guests don robes and flip-flops to relax and sip champagne with lunch at this luxury hotel’s spa garden. The bath house has a relaxation pool, vitality pool, salt- infused sauna and a blossom steam room.
Gilpin Hotel and Lake House
Windermere
Cedar-clad spa lodges at Gilpin Hotel have a treatment area, steam room, outdoor sauna and hot tub. Lake House guests can book treatments in the Jetty Spa, in a tree canopy overlooking a lake.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Spa days and holidays are spent in luxury at this New Forest hotel. There is a mud house, an outdoor hot pool, sauna and rooftop gym, with healthy food in Raw & Cured, all in a tranquil forest setting.
St Brides Spa Hotel
Saundersfoot
A warm, salt-water infinity pool overlooking the bay is a highlight of this coastal hotel’s spa. Double treatment rooms have full-height sliding windows to let in the sea breezes and soothing sound of the waves.
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
Day guests, members and hotel residents pass through a marble shower before dipping in a mother-of-pearl indoor pool at this Edwardian country house’s spa. They can also bathe in the outdoor pool, use sauna or steam rooms.
Barnsley House
Cirencester
Cotswold stone and beams create indoor– outdoor harmony at the spa in the garden of this manor house. There is a choice of music in treatment rooms, a herbaceous sauna, a lounge overlooking the outdoor, heated hydrotherapy pool.
Ilsington Country House
Newton Abbot
ILSINGTON
This Dartmoor country house hotel’s spa draws inspiration from Tibet, with soothing sounds, scents and music. There’s a hydrotherapy pool, steam room, sauna, and poolside ‘kubel dusche’ – a bucket of ice water to tip over yourself.
Spas 2018
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Congham Hall
King's Lynn
In summer, visitors buzz like contented bees around a garden of almost 400 herb varieties at Nicholas Dickinson’s Georgian merchant’s house-turned-hotel.
Cliveden House
Taplow
As you approach this glorious Italianate Thames-side summer palace designed by Charles Barry and set in 376 acres of National Trust grounds, it ‘feels as if you are on the film set of Pride and Prejudice’, says a Guide insider (see also Chewton Glen, New Milton).
Seaham Hall
Seaham
‘A wonderful place’, this Georgian mansion with a pedigree (Lord Byron was married to Anne Isabella Millbanke in the drawing room) stands in landscaped gardens overlooking Durham’s heritage coast.
Cary Arms & Spa
Babbacombe
Queen Victoria thought of Italy as she viewed the ‘red cliffs and rocks and wooded hills’ that surround pebbly Babbacombe Bay, and for la dolce vita look no further than this spa hotel.
The Scarlet
Mawgan Porth
While children let rip at sister hotel Bedruthan (previous entry), all is serene at the adults-only Scarlet, ‘perfectly located overlooking the beach and ocean’, with Ayurvedic-inspired spa and outdoor hot tubs.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Designed for pure leisure and pleasure, this Georgian New Forest lodge is run as a glamorous yet relaxed country house hotel for today’s savvy guest.
St Brides Spa Hotel
Saundersfoot
The panoramic views of Saundersfoot harbour and the coastline from this modern hotel above Carmarthen Bay are ‘exceptional’ – and the inward calm that washes over guests in the award-winning spa isn’t bad, either.
Longueville Manor
St Saviour
A sense of history pervades this 14th-century manor house, festooned with wisteria, which sits in landscaped grounds in a wooded valley.
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
Now a luxury spa hotel in a ‘magnificent’ setting, this country house was a family home when it first opened its doors to the Cowdray Park set back in 1949.
Dormy House
BROADWAY
Countryside chic fills this 17th-century farmhouse on a ridge above vast fields beyond the Cotswold village.
2017 Editor's Choice Spas
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Hartwell House
Aylesbury
Visitors this year were ‘very happy with everything’ at this former stately home set in landscaped gardens and parkland on the edge of the Chilterns.
From £200 per night
Chewton Glen
New Milton
Readers are ‘unable to fault anything at all’ at this ivy-clad country house hotel on the edge of the New Forest, ‘the ultimate luxurious and indulgent treat’.
Bodysgallen Hall and Spa
Llandudno
Set in 220 acres of parkland, this antique-filled Elizabethan mansion has plenty to impress, from the oak-panelled hall and 13th-century tower to the modern spa and ‘lovely’ gardens.
Cliveden House
Taplow
As you approach this glorious Italianate Thames-side summer palace designed by Charles Barry and set in 376 acres of National Trust grounds, it ‘feels as if you are on the film set of Pride and Prejudice’, says a Guide insider (see also Chewton Glen, New Milton).
Seaham Hall
Seaham
‘A wonderful place’, this Georgian mansion with a pedigree (Lord Byron was married to Anne Isabella Millbanke in the drawing room) stands in landscaped gardens overlooking Durham’s heritage coast.
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
Bath
Behind the golden-stone facade of two mansions, at the centre of Bath’s magnificent Georgian crescent, lies a luxurious hotel with an oasis garden.
The Scarlet
Mawgan Porth
While children let rip at sister hotel Bedruthan (previous entry), all is serene at the adults-only Scarlet, ‘perfectly located overlooking the beach and ocean’, with Ayurvedic-inspired spa and outdoor hot tubs.
Lime Wood
Lyndhurst
Designed for pure leisure and pleasure, this Georgian New Forest lodge is run as a glamorous yet relaxed country house hotel for today’s savvy guest.
Calcot & Spa
Tetbury
‘We had a wonderful family holiday here.
Isle of Eriska Hotel, Spa and Island
ERISKA
Rumble across a bridge at the mouth of Loch Creran to reach this ‘simply faultless’ Victorian baronial mansion, a luxury spa hotel, with a Michelin-starred restaurant, on a private pleasure island. ‘A magical place,’ say guests in 2016.
Hotels chosen in 2016
Editor’s Choice: Best Spa Hotels
Park House, Hotel & Spa
Midhurst
Now a luxury spa hotel in a ‘magnificent’ setting, this country house was a family home when it first opened its doors to the Cowdray Park set back in 1949.
Barnsley House
Cirencester
The late Rosemary Verey, doyenne of the 20th-century English country garden, created the flourishing grounds at this 17th-century Cotswold stone mansion, her home from the late 1950s.
Dormy House
BROADWAY
Countryside chic fills this 17th-century farmhouse on a ridge above vast fields beyond the Cotswold village.
Related Pages
- 10 of the best hotels with indoor pools
- Best spa hotels
- Best spa hotels in Bath
Best spa hotels in Cornwall
Best spa hotels in Cotswolds- Best spa hotels in Cumbria
Best spa hotels in Devon
Best spa hotels in Dorset- Best spa hotels in East Anglia
Best spa hotels in Ireland- Best spa hotels in Lake District
Best spa hotels in London- Best spa hotels in Midlands
- Best spa hotels in Norfolk
Best spa hotels in North East- Best spa hotels in North West
Best spa hotels in Scotland- Best spa hotels in South East
- Best spa hotels in Sussex
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Best spa hotels in West Country- Best spa hotels in Yorkshire
- Hotels with hot tubs or Jacuzzis
Find the right luxury spa hotel for you
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. The likes of Chewton Glen take the crown for being amongst the most luxurious facilities in the country, complete not only with excellent spa treatments but a wide range of facilities and knowledge that are hard to come by.
Meanwhile, the likes of Seaham Hall blend a contemporary knowledge of wellbeing with artistic integrity across the whole venue, all surrounded by rich history and contrastingly rugged coastal surroundings that juxtapose beautifully with the perfectly presented hotel and spa.
The Scarlet has a wide reaching reputation for being a spectacularly romantic hotel to visit but is also Cornwall’s ultra eco friendly low-tech solution to wellbeing travel, managing to fuse style and green credentials with the most spectacular coastal views as you sip champagne in the hot tub overlooking the wild Atlantic below. It is the sister hotel to Bedruthan Hotel and Spa, which continues the stylistic credentials of The Scarlet, but adds to it a family friendliness that appeals to a wholly different market.
Then onto another genre of spa hotel in the form of Lime Wood in the New Forest, a spectacularly hip hotel that has a reputation for its decadent restaurant overseen by celebrity chefs Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder, as well as The Herb House, its standalone spa amongst its awe-inspiring gardens, which has its own rooms to stay in, a dedication to its namesake - the herb garden and, and treatments that fuse efficacy with holistic credentials. It all comes together to make the rustic playground of the stylish set.