Noble retreats

This same attitude is apparent in Whatley’s spa, Aquarias, created within the footprint of the old stable block. With its polished plaster walls, light oak floors, indirect lighting and carefully chosen artwork, Aquarias could double as a gallery. Whatley is one of only seven La Prairie spas worldwide, so the emphasis is on facial and body treatments using the Swiss line’s luxurious, caviar-based products in combination with shiatsu, acupressure, effleurage and hot stone techniques.

All these elements were part of the spa’s signature facial, beginning with tension-relieving warm stones slipped between my fingers and toes while a firming facial cream was applied with a pressure point technique. Next, my neck and shoulders dissolved into butter when it was their turn for the hot stone massage. While a caviar facial masque was setting, a caviar body cream was smoothed into my hands, arms, legs and feet with the same unshowy expertise that characterizes the hotel service. I came away as languid as linguine and exuding a sumptuous glow from every pore.

As the name Aquarius suggests, water-based therapy is a guiding principle of the spa. In addition to a Wave Dream Sensory Room (an art installation that projects waves onto a domed ceiling), there’s an exceptional heated hydrotherapy pool featuring an underwater recliner with strategically placed jets for neck massage. As I sat in the outdoor section of the pool overlooking the surrounding woodland while pulsing jets gently soothed my muscles, I had a sense of the last vestiges of winter’s distress drifting away.

Not to be missed is the spa’s thermal suite, ideal for those spring days still harboring a hint of English chill. Incorporating mosaic-tiled benches and small central fountains, the suite’s series of Greco-Roman themed cabins is structured to provide increasing levels of heat, beginning with the gentle Tepidarium. Here, heated walls, seats and floors generate a gradual warming. Once you become acclimatized, you can move on to the dry heat of the Laconium, the steamy Caldarium, the Camomile Steam Grotto, or, for those who like it really hot, a Finnish Sauna, stopping in between for a refreshing cool mist or warm tropical rain shower.

Arrangements for less passive forms of relaxation are similarly comprehensive and efficient, with personal trainers on call for tai chi, yoga, Pilates and workouts in the well-equipped gym. However, after the facial, the most exertion I could muster was a turn around the formal gardens to smell the spring flowers.

All three of these destinations are within an hour of Bath, the elegant spa town to which world-weary Regency sophisticates retreated to relax and revive in fashionable surroundings. As Jane Austen, a resident of Bath (the town that inspired two of her novels) said, “To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.” I have to agree.

Spa Magazine  portrays the full-depth of the spa experience and ways to live it every day. Dedicated to providing the information and inspiration needed to pursue health of body and mind, Spa Magazine  presents a contemporary view of spas worldwide. © 2006 World Publications, LLC

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