SEQUOIA SPA AT THE GROVE HERTFORDSHIRE
The self-styled ‘London’s country estate’ is less than 20 miles from the capital, which tends to mean frantic BlackBerry addicts on the championship golf course or scrolling their way through lunch. The spa is a mobile-free zone and you’ll need time to enjoy it. There’s a vast black-tiled pool, saltwater vitality pool with massage jets, ‘lifestyle showers’, which spritz scented water, and a juice bar serving light snacks. If manic-looking women start running around, they’ll be on a bikini boot camp retreat.
Don’t miss From May to September, swim in the walled garden’s outdoor pool, and hole up in the Urban Beach (sand is imported and there are buckets and spades laid on) and its glitzy, chandelier-bedecked cabins.
Price 55-minute facials from £90; two-hour bespoke treatments from £200.
Get in touch thegrove.co.uk
The deal * A free manicure and pedicure (worth £60) when you book the Golf and Spa Getaway, £385 for two, which includes one night’s B&B, dinner for two, spa access, one 60-minute treatment and a round of golf. Ends 31 March 2010.
DOVE SPA NATIONWIDE
Ever felt intimidated by the thought of going to a spa? Well no, we haven’t either, but we like Dove’s ethos of celebrating natural beauty rather than the airbrushed version. There are 11 Dove Spa salons across the UK, environments of pristine, white décor with shelves of the company’s spa range that’s not available in shops. The models used in the brochures are the spa’s staff, who know every treatment inside out and the huge range includes everything from body wraps to dermabrasion (a facial technique that blitzes skin with fine crystals). There are no pools, steam rooms and other spa paraphernalia, just honest to goodness appraisals, tips and hardworking treatments.
Don’t miss The free, 15-minute skin diagnostic. It’s strangely compelling to see your skin magnified by 150 and probed with a dermascope to measure elasticity, pigmentation and oiliness.
Price Personalised 75-minute facials, £60.
Get in touch dovespa.co.uk
The deal * Twenty per cent off personalised facials and ‘solution body treatments’ at any Dove Spa salon, Monday to Thursday. Ends 31 August.
GENTLEMEN’S TONIC LONDON
One for the boys. The only women you’ll find at Gentlemen’s Tonic work there. This super-smart parlour has top-notch barbers and beauty therapists (though they prefer to say ‘grooming specialists’) in a high-tech, masculine environment with dark wood floors, grey walls and every kind of gadget to help get you through the stress of being pampered. Treatments are conducted in private cubicles kitted out with plasma screens and music consoles. Fun packages include the Hemingway (‘After a heavy night drinking and bull fighting’). There are three London locations, the latest opened last year in Selfridges and a second City branch opens later this year.
Don’t miss The shopping. The selection of male grooming products, including new own-brand Babassu & Bergamot, is second to none.
Price Waxing from £14; 30-minute facials from £40.
Get in touch gentlemenstonic.co.uk
The deal * Spend £60 and get a free Gentlemen’s Tonic grooming product. Ends 30 September.
ELEMISDAY-SPA LONDON
A recent renovation has left this super-chic Mayfair establishment looking... pretty much the same – though the showers work better than ever. A few Buddha statues have been found new homes, but otherwise it’s business as blissful in the six large, themed sensory suites. If you’d like to spa à deux , try the rasul suite and get messy in the mud chamber. It’s located in the basement, alongside the Moorish suite, which has a dry flotation bed. There’s a good range of Time for Men treatments and excellent anti-ageing therapies – products focus on exfoliation using natural plant enzymes. There’s no relaxation room or pool – this is somewhere hard workers can get a beauty fix without taking the day off.
Don’t miss OK, it’s not very healthy, but a cocktail in one of the spa’s neighbours, Hush, Rocket or Mews, is hard to resist.
Price 30-minute Hand & Nail Treatment, £45; four-and-a-half-hour bespoke packages from £350.
Get in touch elemis.com/dayspa
The deal * Book an Advanced Anti-Ageing Facial (a brand new treatment), from £70, and receive a free 30-minute back massage, worth £50 (to be taken at same time). Ends 30 September.
BODYSGALLEN HALL SPA LLANDUDNO
Sheep and space are what you get at Bodysgallen Hall in north Wales. Getting here is a challenge on the twisting roads but it’s worth the journey. There are 200 acres of grounds to play in and a large, 17th-century house to retreat to. The spa has a huge pool and a host of treatments by Anne Semonin (try the Ice Cube facial if you need a bit of tightening), Decléor, Espa and St Tropez. The gym has a Power Plate machine, though you could just climb the mountains – Snowdonia’s hills are wonderfully visible from many bedrooms.
Don’t miss Sniffing the herbs in the hotel’s 17th-century box-hedge parterre.
Price 55-minute facials from £68.
Get in touch bodysgallen.com
The deal * A special two-night stay, £330 per person, B&B (usually £395), which includes one dinner in the fine dining restaurant, one in Bistro 1620, a 30-miniute Decléor spa treatment and box of Decléor products. Available Sunday to Thursday (weekends on request). Ends 31 August.
