English class

The spa has 19 full-time therapists, most of whom have been there for three to five years, as well as specialists on call for treatments such as reflexology, iridology, Thai massage, and even hypnosis. The treatment rooms, which were plain white boxes, have recently been redone--"to make them less clinical," says spa director Mark Thwaites.

My first experience was the 90-minute Scandinavian hot stone massage, which I admit is now very conventional but which I've always found very soothing. Here the stones, in addition to being used to dispense heat into the body at the seven chakras, are placed along the spine on top of a towel, which retains the heat for five minutes or longer.

The next morning I tried one of the spa's more unusual machines, the Aqua Detox, which sits in a shallow footbath and purports to remove toxins via the pores in the feet. Within minutes of my inserting my feet into the machine, the water had turned a light scarlet color and continued to deepen in tone during the next 30 minutes. It was no cause for alarm, as red signifies a lack of harmful toxins. Had the water turned brown or black, on the other hand...

In keeping with the country-house theme, there is a croquet lawn and a small golf course on property, though there are first-rate 18-hole courses within a few minutes' drive. The gym looks modern enough, but there are plans to change the decor to a more contemporary style. Bicycles are available for rides through the New Forest, something well worth doing. There is an outdoor swimming pool behind the hotel (though I never saw a soul in it) and two state-of-the-art indoor tennis courts, with an excellent pro on hand.

More personal touches can be arranged with the staff, many of whom are on a first-name basis with returning guests. The just retired Jo Simonini, the hotel manager and a 36-year veteran, is a keen mushroom hunter. He took me on a tour through his favorite patch of the New Forest in search of porcini and other, lesser known mushroom varieties, which he dried and gave to favored guests as Christmas presents. Within minutes we had detected a cache of porcini and managed in nearly an hour of rigorous searching to get a basket full of edible fungus. I was more than pleased with the result when chef Luke Matthews, who has maintained the restaurant's one Michelin star, served a selection of them with dinner that night in the newly refurbished Garden Restaurant. (According to general manager Andrew Stembridge, Simonini will continue to take guests on foraging trips by request.)

Contrary to common conception, a classic hotel doesn't resist changing--that's a period piece. Rather, it adapts, but without losing sight of itself. That's why Chewton Glen will likely be on that short list of top country-house hotels in another ten years, and doubtlessly, the Skans will still be the reason why. As one of his oldest rivals said to me, "You have a very unusual man in Martin. He hates standing still and constantly wants to grow his hotel, add to it, make it better. Even after 30 years, he still has this terrific attention to detail."

Spa Finder, the global spa resource, reaches millions of health-conscious consumers via its website, Spafinder.com. The company publishes Luxury SpaFinder Magazine, the trusted authority on luxury spas and associated lifestyles, and The Spa Enthusiast, the leading publication for active spa-goers.

*The information in this article was accurate at the time it was published on.

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