I went here for a Spa weekend in January. The hotel has had some rough reviews, but I think it depends where you are in the building as some of it needs refurbishing. Our room was in the newer part of the hotel and just a hop and a skip from the “Spa”. I use the term loosely.
Our twin bedded room was reasonably well appointed, with lots of room, 2 easy chairs and a table, plus a reasonable sized bathroom. Mainly the hotel seems to have 2 main sources of clientelle, wedding parties and refugees, neither of which caused us any issues. We also met some other ladies that had taken up the same weekend Spa offer that had enticed us.
The Spa
This is Spindles Health club, which is also open to the public with a membership fee.There is a 15 metre swimming pool, so we chatted to the attendants and found the times when it was likely to be empty. Such luxury! At other times it is over run by rather boisterous hens and/or stags. There is a jacuzzi which is rather odd, as the step into it is so far down you could almost think it is a plunge pool. My friend adores the bubbles, but only attempted it once. Ridiculous shape. Then there is a fabulously designed Turkish bath. It is fairly small but covered in mosaic and the black ceiling has twinkling lights. Incredibly relaxing and I want one… Other than that there is a shower that changes lights and patterns, hmmm.
We didn’t have any spa treatments included in our stay, but were very lucky to find an available space, although it had to be straight away. Otherwise they are booked up with bridal parties, very busy. If you want to go, booking in advance is a must.
I was impressed with the full body salt scrub that I had, and my friend enjoyed her massage which we had simultaneously. Fun to chat a little as we were worked on, and the beauticians were excellent.
Food and Drink
We had breakfast and an evening meals in our package. This is in a large and rather rowdy room rather like a cafeteria. We both found something to eat but I was not very impressed. This is catering en mass for a limited budget, and I felt they were trying to do their best with poor ingredients. On the second morning I asked for a poached egg, and the chef seemed very happy to do this, and she made a good job of it too, bless her.
There is also a bar just outside the restaurant, and we did spend a pleasant evening with a group of like minded people, although the bar prices are a tad on the expensive side.
Summary
If you find a bargain deal on this hotel, take your own beauty treatments and champagne, as we did, ask for something you want for breakfast, and make the most of the limited facilities. It’s not bad, it’s clean, and we had fun!
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