Jacqueline Hughes-Lundy checks out The Malvern Spa

When you are invited to spend the night at a spa, in Malvern, with a journalist friend to try out the facilities, there can be no downside, or so I thought. As the car door slammed shut, those words that strike terror through women like me came forth, ‘you are navigating’. Now I am that woman who turns the map upside down and has to look at my hands to get right and left sorted (imagine the confusion when I got divorced!) so naturally my first thoughts were; how far is the nearest Halfords and can I afford to buy this woman a Satnav? My second thoughts were lost in the screech of tyres as we hit the M6. The brochure says 2 hours from Manchester Airport and we finally made it in 2 1/5 so no wild exaggeration on their part.

But back to the journey, all was going well until we took the left at the roundabout and ended up in a business park. That’s what the directions said I protested and much to our confusion, there was the Malvern Spa, slap bang in a business park. It did take us a while to get over this, no rolling hills and long country walks then for this stay (to be honest, they wouldn’t have happened anyway).

The second shock was that we were expecting a hotel with spa and what we got was a fabulous spa with a hotel above. Once our little brains had managed to assimilate this we were completely taken with this haven of tranquillity amongst the rolling offices of the business park, because once inside the building, the location is irrelevant.

The treatments at the Spa, which uses Espa products, are, as you would expect, very comprehensive, although some are a little pricey. There are 10 treatment rooms and a quiet room to gently snooze in afterwards. With an over 18 year olds only policy, the clientele seem to be an even mixture of couples and groups of women enjoying ether a day out or luxury break. I did enquire of one young couple what they managed to find to do all day on a three day break, much to the amusement of my colleague who pointed out they were newly weds…..

What really sells this place though is the attention to detail in the surroundings. The relaxation area is spacious, airy with nice little touches like fresh fruit on the tables. There is no feel of a ‘waiting area’ as there is in some of the better known spas and this for me was a big plus. The pool and thermal areas beyond were what made this spa a little more special. The indoor-outdoor pool is fed by Malvern’s spring waters and kept at a temperature of 35°c. There is also the Fire & Ice experience of four thermal cabins which, if experienced in sequence, gradually warm the body, stimulate the circulation and promote detoxification. I don’t think we kept to the sequence and whilst I happily stood under the tropical shower, infused with orange blossom, there was no way I was getting under the cold shower. We spent a while musing on what the birch sticks were for and I think frightened a few clients in the process!

The final surprise was the standard of food served in the restaurant. I wanted to kidnap the chef, but alas couldn’t fit him in the suitcase. The lunch menus had been healthy and interesting, but at night the stars in the kitchen really shone. This was fine dining from the amuse bouche to the local cheese board and everything in between.

So if, like us, a walk around the local shopping area 3 minutes from the Spa isn’t enough, there are many local attractions close by and whilst the Spa isn’t in a pretty setting, it is surrounded by attractive local towns and villages.

If you like grand surroundings and country settings to look at from the luxury of your daybed then this Spa isn’t for you, but if you like state of the art, ultra modern spas, with fine dining and top notch service then The Malvern Spa is worth a look.

Hotel accommodation is modern with 32 bedrooms. The Spa do not publish room rates or packages but will give you ‘the best available’ at time of booking and are demand dependent. Day packages are available.

The Malvern Spa: www.themalvernspa.com / 01684 898290