Britain – September 2019

http://www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN (^53)
PLACES TO STAY
PHOTOS:
©AMY
MURRELL/CHRISTIAN
TRAMPEANU/GREEN
IMAGING/KAY
ROXBY/ALAMY
introduction of Cabinet minister John
Profumo to a 19-year-old called Christine
Keeler. When it was revealed that she was
also involved with a Soviet naval attaché,
the British establishment was aghast.
Though ‘the Profumo affair’ put Cliveden
on the map, these days it is far better
known as a luxury hotel; indeed it was the
choice of the Duchess of Sussex the night
before her wedding to Prince Harry.
A stay at Cliveden offers serious luxury, from the
enormous wood-panelled lounge with its antique red velvet
sofas, to the beautifully cut cucumbers in your Hendrick’s
gin and tonic. The extravagance continues in the spa,
an oasis surrounded by rose and lavender bushes, where
among other luxury treatments you can undergo facials
using the renowned Sarah Chapman range (again, the
choice of a glowing Meghan Markle). Beyond the spa,
lucky visitors can take a jaunt in a vintage boat down
the Thames, watching the world go by.
An hour on the train from London, in the lush Sussex
Downs, there sits another stately home-meets-luxe spa:
South Lodge. This Victorian pile was originally the house
of explorer Frederick Du Cane Godman, who would feel
at home today in its heavy-curtained rooms covered in
oil paintings. Bedrooms are utterly luxurious, down to
in-room pillow menus, which allow guests to choose which
kind of scented cloud they wish to lay their head on.
In the spa, guests are hurtled into the 21st
century. Opened in 2019, this cutting-edge
facility contains an indoor innity pool that
is the size of a small lake, multiple steam
experiences and a warren of rooms offering
everything from bamboo massages to
rub-downs with restorative mud. Outside
there are more than 90 acres of woods,
lakes and rolling expanses of green to explore,
while for the gourmet contingent, high-end
restaurant The Pass offers such delights as braised
short rib of beef with black trufe polenta.
In the North of England, Harrogate is another elegant
Regency town where for centuries the well-to-do have
come to restore themselves with the local spa waters.
The town still enchants today, its bustling streets rich
with gift shops and genteel cafés – including the must-visit
Bettys tearoom, where scones and jam have been served
by girls in frilly aprons for 100 years.
Those wishing to treat their body as a temple after
a plateful of cake should head to Rudding Park, a hyper-
luxurious spa hotel just down the road. Facilities here are
spectacular: a hydrotherapy innity pool, herbal steam
rooms, a sunlight therapy room and, best of all, a rooftop
spa experience where guests can lounge in the waters
and star-gaze the night away.
Vying for the title of best spa in the North is Armathwaite
Hall, located in one of the prettiest patches of the Lake
For more
inspiring ideas
of places to stay,
visit http://www.britain-
magazine.com