The Gainsborough Health Club & Spa, Sudbury

This Suffolk spa needs little introduction if you’re a long-time Muddy reader! The Gainsborough has won our best day spa award twice and is a real favourite (read our full review here). If you need a breather after a long summer holiday, this spa is just the ticket. For starters it’s in an idyllic rural setting, just outside the beautiful and bijou Suffolk town of Clare, plus they always have some brilliant and budget-friendly seasonal spa days on offer. You could easily spend a day here, having treatments, enjoying afternoon tea, soaking up the sun in the pretty courtyard and gliding up and down that stunning pool.

Muddy treatment: Try out the new [Comfort Zone] Sublime Skin Rejuvenation Anti-Ageing Facial if you want to get rid of some of the summer holiday-induced wrinkles. It costs £95 for 70 minutes and you’ll find the full review here. Or book the brilliant Back to School Bliss Spa Day that targets all your post-holiday needs and costs £89pp.

Aqua Sana Spa, Elveden Forest

Last year the Aqua Sana Spa at Center Parcs in Eleveden had a massive makeover and it’s now a thing of beauty. The multi-million pound refurb includes an amazing new forest-inspired design, 25 new wellness experiences, and new facilities spread across six zones inspired by the world’s most amazing natural environments including the chance to soothe aching feet in the bubbling Japanese onsen-inspired footbaths, go on a journey through the seasons in the immersive Forest View, get cosy as you enjoy panoramic woodland views inside The Nest. Get someone else to do the school run – this is one you’ll want to enjoy to the max.

Muddy treatment: The ‘Tree of Life’ Ritual is absolutely incredible – an energising body massage using rhythmic and invigorating movements combined with grounding techniques to release and let go of any negative energy, followed by an uplifting facial. You will leave feeling revived, rebalanced and refreshed. (£99 for 55 minutes).

Riverhills boutique spa, near Ipswich

Riverhills is a boutique spa and health club in Bramford near Ipswich that’s a real retreat from the stresses of modern life. In June 2023 there was a terrible fire that meant the pool area with saunas, steam room and hot tub burned down, but in a classic case of the phoenix raising from the ashes, the business reopened 8 weeks later and now offers indulgent treatment-based spa days with lunch and access to the fabulous new mud serail chamber. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates though – the pool area is being rebuilt and will be bigger, better and even more luxurious than before.

Muddy treatment: After a busy summer we’d opt for the Revitalise package that includes a 60 minute treatment, 45 minutes in the mud serail chamber, a light lunch and use of the relaxation room – all for just £110 – £120.

Bedford Lodge Spa, Newmarket

Live the high life by knocking back champers and bobbing around in the rooftop hot tub at this pampering palace in Newmarket! There’s also a hydrotherapy pool, steam room and sauna, that’s if you can drag yourself away from the spa lounge which is so utterly tranquil that you’ll do well to stay awake more than fie minutes. Treatments are varied, from EPSA facials to more hard core treatments like microdermabrasion, fillers, dermaplaning and electrolysis. Most tempting spa day? The Fizz With Friends package, including a glass of Prosecco, full use of the spa and tote bag and slippers to take home.

Muddy treatment: A 90-minute Balinese hot stone massage with heated aromatherapy oils calms your mind as well as restoring you body (£140 and worth every penny).

Weavers’ House Spa, Lavenham

Weavers’ House Spa is one of our absolute faves. Like the hotel, which dates back to the 15th century, this isn’t large and flashy, it’s more of an intimate place to relax where everything’s perfect and calm, from the spa boutique to the vitality pool and garden.

Muddy treatment: It’s got to be the Lazy Lunch package with a one-hour treatment plus two hours’ use of the heat and relaxation suites followed by a two-course lunch at Brasserie 487. It’s impossible to leave here stressed.

Cambridge Country Club, Bourn

You don’t need to leave Cambs to get the luxury London spa vibe if you’re short on time. The Cambridge Country Club unveiled a stunning new 1m spa back in 2021 and it’s a thing of beauty. As well as a glittering and relaxing pool area, there are heat experience suites, relaxation rooms, pretty mani- and pedi- lounges and if you’re feeling energetic a fully-equipped gym. There’s a restaurant on site too with many spa packages including a light lunch or an afternoon tea in the spa lounge.

Muddy treatment: While the kids are at school book in for a Mid-week Re-fresh Spa Package where you can choose from a back, neck, and shoulder massage, a personalised Elemis facial, or an Elemis Frangipani body scrub (£90pp).

BREAK FOR THE BORDER

Lotus Spa at Thompson Hall Retreat, near Thetford, Norfolk

Nestled away in tranquil woodland near Thetford, Lotus Spa at Thompson Hall Retreat was Norfolk’s Muddy Awards 2023 Best Day Spa winner. Expect a wellness garden with a natural swimming pond, spa pool, hot tub, barrel sauna and – if you dare – a cold plunge pool. After you’ve relaxed and recharged, wrap up in your robe and stroll over to the safari tent, where there’s a wood burner and sofas (we can feel our eyes getting heavy already!). And if you fancy making a weekend of it, book into one of its fab shepherd’s huts and lodges (with private hot tubs), and spin by the Botanical Bistro for a healthy feast.

Muddy treatment: The 55-minute Luxury Facial uses British beauty brand, Natural Spa Factory, to give your skin a thorough glow up.

Congham Hall Hotel & Spa, King’s Lynn, Norfolk

Based just outside King’s Lynn in West Norfolk, this multi-award winning, 26 bed Georgian hotel is a real haven for relaxation. Surrounded by mature trees, gardens and 30 acres of beautiful countryside, this is just the spot for a weekend of zen.

The Secret Garden Spa is a charming modern offshoot of the hotel offering tailor-made treatments devised using the hotel’s own herb garden. You could easily spend a day floating between the gorgeous spa pool with water jets, outdoor hot tub, sauna, steam room, bio-sauna and foot baths.

Muddy treatment: The Secret Garden Spa Ritual is an indulgent 120 minutes of head-to-toe scrubbing and pummelling for a brand-new you!

Sopwell House, St Albans, Herts

Cottonmill Spa Sopwell House Herts cabanas in garden

Say hello to Sopwell House‘s Cottonmill Spa – three storeys of R&R! Yup it’s about as plush as they come, with its state-of-the-art fitness facilities, 14m indoor pool, organic sauna, award-winning designer garden and a list of signature treatments harnessing the healing powers of sand and water, sauna and steam room, plus a spectacular signature treatment list. Or you can gain access to the inner sanctum, The Club at Cottonmill, with its tranquil Deep Relaxation and Whisper Rooms. Membership, spa days and spa breaks are available for both areas.

Muddy treatment: The new Limited Edition Cottonmill Signature Hammam Vichy with La Sultane de Saba experience sounds heavenly and costs £135.

Lifehouse Spa, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex

Ten minutes from the seaside town of Frinton-on-Sea, this sleek Scandi-style spa and hotel is a botanist’s dream, as it’s set in 130 acres of beautifully-kept gardens (ideal for taking a turn around in your robe post-swim). The spa has a list of treatments as long as your seaweed-cocooned, salt scrubbed arm, including Clarins and ELEMIS facials and body treatments, wellness experiences like singing bowl sound baths and facial acupuncture, and mani-pedis in the OPI Prosecco & Nail Suite. As well as a large swimming pool and jetted hydrotherapy pool, there’s a thermal suite with your standard saunas, steam rooms and salt inhalation rooms, and even a Relaxation Room if all that unwinding leaves you in need of a nap.

Muddy treatment: We love the sound of their unique Made for Life Rose Quartz Wellness Facial that uses cooling Rose Quartz “Gua Sha” Crystals as well as rich 100% organic balms and oils to smooth lines and reduce puffiness from your face. (£104 for 75 minutes).

LONDON

AIRE Ancient Baths, Covent Garden

A subterranean spa gem in the heart of Covent Garden. The blue plaque (and first edition of Peter Pan in reception) say JM Barrie’s former home, but we’re going underground to AIRE Ancient Baths. It’s not your traditional spa day but this candle-lit watery underworld is unique. The water chambers vary in temperature from an icy 10°C to steamy and there’s a Floatarium for a vigorous self-applied salt rub. Don’t panic spa devotees there are treatments – Argan oil massages, Himalayan salt rituals and are treatments

The Treatments: Who can resist the health benefits of red wine? Well, now you can bathe in it. AIRE’s signature Wine Bath Experience will start with a body massage, the you’ll soak in Spanish Ribera del Duero red grapes while enjoying a soothing cranial massage. Experiences from £98pp.

Bulgari Hotel Spa, Knightsbridge

The jewel in Knightsbridge’s crown, the Bulgari Hotel spa is an underground luxury spa offering world-class facial and body treatments alongside the London’s most serene indoor pool, saunas and steam rooms, and a relaxation space a million miles away from the busy shopping streets above. There are 11 treatment rooms, one of which is the fancy Onyx Spa Suite featuring two side-by-side treatment beds and large hydro massage tub.

Muddy treatment: Indulge in the Oja body treatment by Mauli Rituals (£330) which takes mind-calming massage that will erase all memory of your kids’ bad behaviour – because, yes, it’s that good.

Agua Spa at Sea Containers, South Bank

Sea Containters Hotel Agua Spa relaxation room with sculptural copper drop

The stunning Agua bathhouse and spa at the Sea Containers hotel by the river blends Hollywood glamour, bold art and quirky design. Think luxe treatments amid a backdrop of floaty ceiling-to-floor white silk curtains and Tom Dixon sculptures. It’s not fully-loaded with spa facilities, but there’s enough for you to hit the wellness spot – a large Art Deco steam room, Glamour Room for beautifying, futuristic spa lounge and some seriously special treatments.

Muddy treatment: Diamond Energy Facial (from £103 for 60mins) – designed to help reverse the effects of environmental stress and DNA damage. And yes it can mean your feral kids.

14 heavenly spa days for a post summer holiday breather

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