I love spa trips, I don't go on them often enough. If it was up to me, I'd have my own spa in my garden, but unfortunately, I'm not a billionaire so that won't be happening anytime soon. Usually, good spas are miles away from my house and are exceptionally expensive. The last spa I visited was Champney's Springs, it feels like it was well over a year ago. Desperately in need of some relaxation, I was really excited when I was invited to check out Handpicked Hotel's collection of hotels and spas. I chose to visit Woodhall Spa in Linton, which is about 10 minutes from Harrogate so very close to my house. I took my Mum with me as a treat for her 50th birthday. Let's see how the day went...
We started the day by popping into a local cafe for a fitness breakfast... I would say that this place is Yorkshire's answer to The Good Life Eatery in London. It's about time that somewhere for healthy eaters and fitness enthusiasts opened in the North of England.
We tucked into poached eggs
and a super-food protein fuelled porridge.
We also made sure we started the day with a yummy green juice.
5 minutes down the road, we were suddenly in the depths of the country side.
As we drove down the lane to Woodhall Hotel and Spa, we could see it in the distance. Very British.
On arrival, we immediately went to explore the gorgeous little rose gardens.
I am obsessed with this dress, I actually wore it to travel in on the way to Jamaica as it's so comfy.
It's from Boohoo but annoyingly it's sold out! You can find affordable alternatives on Boohoo here, here and my favourite, here. MissGuided also have some gorgeous floral maxi dresses here. This one and this one from ASOS are nice too. Sunglasses: Ray-Ban (cheap £6.00 ASOS version here!) Sandals: New Look
I was impressed with the lavender outside, after all, my shop is called LVNDR so, I get excited everytime I see real lavender.
We headed to the spa reception and were greeted by two lovely ladies
The jacuzzi was particularly impressive...
The pool was very small but adequate and lovely to say it is just a small spa. I still managed to do about 200 lengths. The pool was a tiny bit dirty which was a bit of a shame but the jacuzzi was lovely.
The steam room was lovely. I didn't see a sauna but I was happy enough with a steam room because I love going in them. The spa itself was very empty, with local members there which is really nice as at some points we had the whole thing to ourselves.
My Mum had her full body massage at 12.30 for an hour, whilst she did that I had a gym session. I recently wrote an updated gym guide here!
At 1.30 I headed into the treatment room for my massage. By the looks of it, there was just one treatment room, it was a really tiny spa but it was compact and nice, with everything you could need. Everything was well organised and ran very smoothly. My full body massage was incredible, I really needed it as my muscles were so tense from too much exercise but I left the room feeling like a new woman. The lady who did it was phenomenal and extremely experienced.
After our massages we headed into the main hotel for our afternoon tea...
The main hotel is gorgeous, I can see why people get married here but it's the views that are particularly stunning...
We had some champagne and a green tea, we were really excited for our afternoon tea to arrive but when it came we realised we must have accidentally ordered cream tea instead...
Nevertheless, it was still delicious. We filled up on 2 gorgeous, warm, freshly baked scones each. They took a long time to come, but clearly it's because things are made to order and they were well worth the wait. They crumbled perfectly and were completely home-made (or they tasted so anyway).
Healthy eating out of the window...
The whole day was really enjoyable, the food was truly delicious and the massages were perfect. There was just one thing that let it down, that was the service in the hotel. I feel it could have been more attentive. No-one came to ask us how we were getting on throughout our cream tea, which I found quite startling for a 4* hotel, even in Nandos they come and ask how your meal is. They actually mixed our booking up too which again, made us feel very awkward. The staff were all congregated near to the entrance and we could hear everything they were saying from our seats which made us feel quite awkward too at some points. Pushing this aside, everything else was brilliant and the spa staff were incredible, this was possibly just an off day for the hotel as I've heard rave reviews about it.
After a lovely morning of relaxation, topped off by lovely scones, we decided to head into the gardens before we went home...
Would I go back to Woodhall Spa? Yes! I'd love to stay at the hotel as I've heard very good things about it, I'm very tempted to book a little night away with my boyfriend. It was cosy and beautiful with a modern twist - my kind of hotel, the service could be improved with a few tweaks and maybe they were just having an off day as mentioned. The best thing? This place is only down the road so I will definitely be returning at somepoint, even if it's just for another amazing massage and session in the dreamy jacuzzi! This spa day costs £145 for two people, I think this would be a good price if it included a nights stay and better service. Find out more about these spa days here.
Lots of love, Em x
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