Review: Pennyhill Park spa
Review: Pennyhill Park spa
While some spas are content with a pool and a steam room, this Surrey hotel has everything from an ice igloo and mud treatment room to herbal saunas and cold plunges.
The original manor house on the site dates back to 1849; the spa was built in a new wing in 2003. It extends to some 45,000 sq ft and it makes use of all its space with numerous treatment rooms, an interlinked area of around 20 different spa experiences, a huge indoor pool and hot tub.
We started with afternoon tea in the bright café before going to work it all off in the pools… well, our good intentions were soon scuppered by the Tepidarium where you can lounge around on a heated ceramic bed and read your book or snooze. We then moved on to various types of steam, refreshing experience showers, foot baths and hot tubs. Our favourite steam was the circular rose scented room, which is hugely relaxing.
Just as magical is the indoor pool. Lie on your back, look up at the ceiling which takes on the movement of the water and dip your ears under the surface – there are speakers playing gentle music. I could have stayed here a long while.
But there was the outdoor pool to explore. However, it wasn’t heated and we got in as far as our ankles. A braver couple than ourselves managed a length. We retreated to the outdoor hot tubs, which are delightful, and there are plenty of loungers for sunny days all tucked in among the beautifully landscaped surroundings with grasses, large rocks and lavender.
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The treatment area is also extensive with 23 rooms. I’d booked in for a Comfort Zone Prescriptive Facial. It was just the thing to get my complexion gleaming and the head and shoulder massage was blissful.
The spa is popular and it does feel quite weird to see all the guests wandering around in matching robes and slippers. However, because is it so big it absorbed everyone well on our Friday afternoon visit (including some of the England rugby lads who often pop in after training). In fact, we had the pool inside pretty much to ourselves.
Usefully, the changing rooms are also vast and impressive – there’s even have a swing. And there are plenty of spaces for all, with mirrors, hairdryers and straighteners.
Pennyhill Park is a very fun place to spa, and the indoor pool with its underwater music has to be one of the best hotel pools around. Come the summer months, the outdoor cabanas with copper bathtubs look dreamy. Make a note now, they’ll be popular.
Lazy Spa Afternoon Tea costs £250, with spa access from 2pm to 8pm
