Jo Haywood wraps up a few festive spa treatments for you to put under the tree
Perfume is lovely, and jewellery will always raise a smile, but if you want to be the star at the top of the Christmas gift-giving tree there had better be a spa day at the bottom of your beloved’s stocking this year.Yorkshire is blessed with more than its fair share of luxury spas, and the newest on the block is in the recently-completed Follifoot Wing at Rudding Park Hotel in Harrogate.
It has four treatment rooms, including a hammam, steam room, light and deep relaxation rooms and multi-sensory experience shower, and offers a raft of treatments from bespoke, results-driven facials to holistic massages, wraps, hammam scrubs and manicures.
As if all that was not enough, guests can also complete their spa day with a private screening of their favourite film in Rudding’s new 14-seat cinema. They’ll even deliver popcorn directly to your seat if you want, which is more than you’ll get at your local multiplex where service usually comes with a bored sigh rather than a smile.
If you’re looking for gift ideas among its menu of packages, you could do worse than starting with the Sleeping Beauty Break (oh no, you couldn’t – sorry, the panto season has come early this year), which is �119 per person based on two people sharing a double or twin room and includes a three-course dinner, full Yorkshire breakfast, full use of the spa and a 50-minute massage, facial, hammam, manicure or pedicure.
Another package aimed at dynamic duos is Just The Two Of Us at �250 per pair. This is a side-by-side aromatherapy massage in the couple’s room plus use of all the spa facilities, a light bite and a glass of champagne.
Titanic Spa in Linthwaite, Huddersfield, also recognises that one is fun, but two is better with its VIP Duo package. This includes ‘fun in the mud’ in your own private mud chamber, relaxing facials and massages, heat treatments, chocolates and a glass of bubbly – all for two people. Just make sure your partner knows they have to choose you as their ‘plus one’ for this �260 treat to avoid sulks under the mistletoe.
The Cedar Court Grand in York has a range of steamy packages available with a railway theme. The Orient Express Overnight Sleeper – 150 minutes of sheer pleasure for �115 – starts with a deeply relaxing body massage using spiced oriental oils followed by a Black Diamond facial treatment.
Middlethorpe Hall, one of the National Trust’s prestigious Yorkshire properties, is offering the perfect spa break for people whose life isn’t complete without a glass of champers in one hand and a copy of their favourite magazine in the other (no, not Bunty). Its Health, Beauty & Bubbly retreat, which will set you back �199 per person per night for two or �249 for a single room, includes a chilled half bottle of Ruinart Brut Rose on arrival, a three-course candlelit dinner, a superior room, early morning tea, a full Yorkshire breakfast and full use of the spa with a free facial or massage treatment thrown in for good measure.
And finally, if you have a teen in your house and would like to get rid of them for a while – well, they can be a little trying, can’t they? – Verbena Spa in Helmsley offers a Teen Queen package for �99. This will give them 90 minutes of treatments, including a mini manicure, taster facial, skincare workshop and a home care starter kit. And, more importantly, it will give you 90 minutes without a single slammed door. Bliss.
