Quirky, very old hotel.
Booked a one night spa break as a treat for my friend and I on a Saturday evening.
We arrived at the spa first and advised that we were staying overnight. They seemed to be expecting us (I'd called a couple of weeks beforehand to book the rasul mud chamber & physioacoustic chair) & a friendly young woman showed us the spa area.
The spa itself is underneath the hotel & car park in a kind of cave-like setting. No natural light and as it is very old and dark, it often feels a little claustrophobic. The maze-like layout also takes some getting used to.
We were shown the rasul area first for our treatment. This is an area shared with the super spa which looks lovely, but we didn't use this. The rasul itself was great and plentiful amounts of clay for getting face and body were provided which is refereshing (previous mud chamber experiences have resulted in me having to summon someone for more mud as the amount provided wouldn't have covered a cat, let alone a size 14 woman).
The physioacoustic chair was.... weird! We were expecting music, but it appears the actual vibrations are musical instead. The 30 min session comprised of a semi reclined rest in a small, candlelit room covered with a blanket whilst the chair runs through a program of strong vibrations. We did choose the strongest setting to get the best benefits, but the whole thing was rather intense & different! Not sure what the results are just yet but it was only yesterday so let's see!
Afterwards we used the very small pool, sauna, steam room & jacuzzi for a while before checking into the hotel.
As mentioned before, the spa and hotel are old. Expect lots of dark wood finishes, the kind of brown tiles you saw in school changing rooms in the 70's, tired decor & a bit of rust and limescale. This is reflected throughout the hotel too, but that said everything is very clean.
Check in at the hotel at around 3pm was pleasant and as we'd left our bags with reception earlier that morning before we used the spa, the lady on reception had kindly placed them in our room for us and provided the ice bucket for our Cava as requested. A lovely touch!
We quickly checked into our room (16 - a twin) before afternoon tea. The room was average in size and furnished with beautiful old furniture, the only modern item being the large TV.
Again, the decor is not to everyone's taste - beige rather than white bed linen, chintzy wallpaper, those awful brown tiles again in the bathroom, an old lamp that your granny would like, crochet doilies...
We laughed and appreciated it for what it was - clean and comfortable, nice and quiet.
One thing I will mention though - the fire escape to the car park, located in the bathroom and right beside the showering area. The shower was somehow installed in this area rather than over the bath.
This made for a rather wet floor upon entry to the bathroom.
The afternoon tea was very generous and for £12.50pp a bargain! Extra tea was provided on request by the friendly lady Manning the area.
Checkout at 11am was more than reasonable and parking was free. We were very lucky to secure a place in the hotel car park which is tiny and located at the rear of the hotel frontage.
Overall a nice stay. Staff are super friendly and helpful and it's a rather unusual, quirky hotel and spa. If you can see past the requirement for a bit of an update you're in for a treat.
The only downside is that my membership was not acknowledged nor our special request for a room upgrade/best available as we were both celebrating our 40th birthdays. Not a big issue, but we'd at least hoped for a little card in the room or even a simple 'happy birthday' from the staff checking us in.
Would certainly stay again for the right price.
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