Bliss in Bagshot (The Spa at Pennyhill Park Hotel)

Member Name: produkcritik

Product:	The Spa at Pennyhill Park Hotel
Date:	27/03/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Exclusive pampering experience

Disadvantages: can be pricey

In these credit crunch times, spa days seem to be not only out of our reach, but frowned upon. Yet, , despite our best intentions, it is only a matter of time before the imposed frugality just gets boring. That's when it is time to visit The Spa at Pennyhill Park.

5 star Pennyhill Park, nestled in over 123 acres in Bagshot, Surrey hosts The Spa,the largest spa complex in the UK with over 45,000 sq ft but yet it is not as well known as the Champneys or Sanctuary brands as it does not cater to the mass market. Pennyhill Park is 45 minutes from central London and houses the Michelin starred restaurant The Latymer as well as the more casual Brasserie Restaurant.

Spa days at Pennyhill start at £175 which normally includes full use of the facilities, a 2 course lunch at Cafe Themis and a hour treatment of your choice.

Without even taking in the luxurious treatment rooms, there was more than enough to keep us busy. We started off unwinding in the leather massage chairs on the first floor overlooking the pools and reluctantly got up after 30 minutes to try the other facilities including the jaw dropping "ballroom"swimming pool with piped underwater music. We wandered through the extensive Thermal Heaven(herbal saunas,aromatic laconiums, tepidariums, an ice cave and a schnapps steam room) like it was a big adult playground. We did peek into the Fitness Suite but decided to go back to lazing around. (Exercise, bah!).We managed to muster the energy to take the lift to Cafe Themis for our well-deserved lunch. We decided to go with the two course lunch buffet option at £12.95 as after all that hard work of massaging, scrubbing and floating, we couldn't possibly be expected to tax our brains to pick out what we wanted to eat.

We topped off our hectic day with a snooze in the Sensory Relaxation Lounge with the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. At the end of our experience, my husband and I felt we had been abroad for a couple of weeks and were blissfully chilled for almost the same period. The only problem is that from now on, any sort of pampering, will now be compared to the Pennyhill Park experience and somehow, I fear they may fall a bit short.

Summary: A once in a lifetime experience