highlanderfil

Hiya! Looking for a three-night stay for my wife and I (in our mid-30s) pretty much anywhere in England. Proximity to Essex is good, but not mandatory. Would be great, actually, if it was in the middle of nowhere so that we wouldn't be tempted to go out exploring. We really need the rest and we are really not good at it, so creating an artificial situation where we are forced to relax may be necessary

Ideally we'd like to book a package that would not only allow us to use the spa facilities, but would also include a couple of treatments per day for both of us, as well as meals. Our one major requirement is a comfortable (read: soft) bed. If we could use points of some kind, it would be great (we have a cachet available of pretty much every program out there or can transfer Chase or MR points if needed), but also not mandatory.

Looking forward to your suggestions!

UAPremExecflyer

How do you expect anyone to be able to make a recommendation on the basis of such broad and sweeping statements without any reasonable, specific criteria?
Anywhere in England, but proximate to Essex? What does "proximate" mean? One hour's drive? Six?
Middle of nowhere? Some people might suggest - perhaps unfairly - that Essex is the middle of nowhere.
What's your budget?

highlanderfil

So, the reason the criteria is broad is because we really don't have much of a preference. Like, seriously, you could suggest a place in Leigh and a place in Chester or Newcastle and we'd consider all equally. Trains work just as well as driving, so we really could go pretty much anywhere in the country. As I said, proximity to Essex isn't mandatory, so not sure why you're zeroing in on it as if it were. As for some suggesting that Essex itself is in the middle of nowhere, I might tend to agree. Where we live is fairly close to London (two stops on a fast train), but it might as well be hundreds of miles away. So if there's a brilliant spa somewhere in Ingatestone, so much the better.

Budget is a fair question. Let's say £250/night, all-in?

Gagravarr

There's a few specialist spa booking companies out there, who seem to have good all-inclusive rates. Those can usually be beaten by ringing the hotel and asking them to match, but their websites are often a good initial point to start searching from

Using points wise, the few I've tried lately:

We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree Dunblane Hydro last week, which is in the middle of Scotland but not near Essex... Even peak summer weekends it was only £150/night for room + dinner + breakfast. They also had packages with spa treatments included. The possible downside is that it's an old Victorian spa hotel, lovely and grand, but the current spa facilities are in a much less glamorous building next door, and certainly not up to fancy spa levels!

Also up North, the Sheraton Grand in Edinburgh has a huge spa and leisure area, but the hotel's bang in the city centre (good normally, but not for you!), and I've never felt all that relaxed in the spa / pool area though it's large.

The Crowne Plaza at Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire is another spa-lite spa-ish hotel we've enjoyed a weekend at fairly recently. Spa stuff is in the gold club adjacent, decent for a normal hotel, not super-lux spa levels though. Out of the way on a lovely big estate, loads of nice countryside walks, decent food, and just-about reachable on public transport...

IC Marseille is lovely, very nice spa and great food, just hop on the direct Eurostar down there

USA_flyer

Brooklands Hotel and Spa near Weybridge is decent.

highlanderfil

Looks really nice, yeah, especially next to the track... Don't think the wife will look upon that particular factor too kindly, though

highlanderfil

I think we're actually going to do the Brooklands one. They were able to put together a package that includes both treatments (for her) and a drive (for me) for about £700 for three nights, inclusive of breakfast and one night's dinner. All told, after lunches and the other dinner (or two, depending on how early we get there on the first day) we're probably looking at close to £1K. Not terrible.

USA_flyer

I hope you have a fab time!

highlanderfil

We did...not. Some of it was clearly my fault, but the general attitude of the hotel's personnel really didn't help.