Two weeks ago Mum and I skipped off to enjoy a luxurious weekend at Champneys Springs for her birthday. A lot of people have asked me if it’s worth a visit so I thought I’d whip up a quick blog post about our stay. My Mum and I are Champneys Virgins so picking the right resort was quite a challenge as there are four UK locations. I opted for Springs (the closest one) as they do weekend fitness bootcamps and my Mum has wanted to try one for a while. If it had been up to me we would have lounged around all day in our robes and slippers eating cake and drinking champers but this was Mum’s birthday treat so we compromised and stopped off at Starbucks for a cake break on the way.
Now you know I love a bootcamp and having been on two bootcamps this year, I was excited to see how Champneys compared. I knew it wouldn’t be quite as intense as the ones I had been on in the past as it was only two days and the calorie allowance was 1500 a day which is fairly generous. We chose Champneys as we wanted to kickstart our healthy regimes somewhere luxurious and relaxing. You won’t be woken up at the crack of dawn by an angry army man, nor will you be denied completely of sugar but you will find yourself on the right path should you wish to shed a couple of pounds.
Champneys Bootcamp Day 1
Bottles of water drunk 8
Toilet breaks 800
Hours of exercise 2
Calories consumed 1500
Cupcakes consumed 0
We arrived at the beautiful Springs resort, giddy about the prospect of lounging around in plush robes on an evening and enjoying a bit of mother daughter time. We went to the welcome talk and were given an idea of what the next two days would hold by our lovely trainers Jamie and Anthony. We had our stats taken and we got to know our fellow bootcampers over a cup of green tea. Parts of the Champneys Springs resort are beautiful and it has recently undergone a million pound makeover, unfortunately the room where we spent most of our time was fairly basic and rather underwhelming. Luckily our bedrooms made up for it. The bathrooms are stocked with lovely little luxuries and you can buy full sizes of these products in the hotel shop.
Next up was our favorite bit of the day. Lunch! The dining room is lovely and I tried to ignore the buttery bread baskets that floated past our table. Unlike the other guests, we were eating from the calorie controlled bootcamp menu. I have to say, I nearly fell off my chair when my lunch arrived. Halloumi cheese on a bed of roasted vegetables? That’s right, I’d found a bootcamp that has CHEESE on the menu.
We were also given a mixture of seeds called psyllium husk that we mixed in with our Orange juice. It’s supposed to be a great source of fiber and while it looks scary, it’s actually tasteless so I’m thinking of getting some in tablet form to have at home from Holland and Barrett. Once lunch was over, we went to walk it off on a 5k route around the village. The surroundings of Champneys Springs are simply stunning and I managed to capture some of the beautiful scenery on my camera.
Even though this was our first bootcamp activity, I couldn’t help but feel that I wanted to be pushed a bit harder, I could have easily ran this circuit but I took the easy way out because everyone else walked it too. Our group was a mixed bunch and ranged from around the ages of 25 to 65 and the activities were chosen to match our abilities as group.
Mum making a break for it…
Next up was an abs session and then we had the chance to try out TRX training which was really challenging and is something I’d like to continue in the gym. The best part of the day was our trip to the Thalassotherapy pool. This is basically a large pool with a number of high powered jets placed at different heights. Champneys is recognised for having state of the art spa facilities and this was one treatment I’d definitely have again. It’s great for people like me who have aching necks, shoulders and backs and the water contains detoxing minerals too that your body absorbs over a 30 minute period.
Lemon and ginger was delivered to our room so we could drink it with hot water. I loved the flavor and plan to take a big flask of this to work and have it instead of tea. Day one ended with dinner (a turkey burger) that was wolfed down in approx 20 minutes. There is one aspect of the Champneys experience I wasn’t quite prepared for. There isn’t a bar or a communal area with a TV to socialise in. Once you have had dinner, there isn’t much to do but go to your room and watch a film. Needless to say, we were asleep by 9pm.
Champneys Bootcamp Day 2
Kilometres Walked 5
Minutes spent hating Thai Chi 30
Number of gym classes 5
Pounds spend in the Champneys shop £50
Day two began with an early morning walk. We did the same circuit every morning over the course of our stay and while it was enjoyable, it was a tad repetitive. Breakfast was a delicious ommelette served with Pompernickle bread which wasn’t so delicious but was inhaled regardless. After lunch we had a zumba class and a Thai Chi class (Yawn) followed by a sweaty spin session. All of the classes were around 30 minutes long and I would have liked to fit more of them into my day. You do have the option to join in classes once the bootcamp finishes at 4.30 but there were never any appealing classes at this time. After lunch there was aqua aerobics which was our favorite class on the timetable. The bootcamp package includes a 30 minute massage and I have to say it was phenomenal. I instantly regretted not booking more massages and I’m thinking of booking another weekend at Champneys just to be massaged. Dinner was a generous portion of Thai Green Curry and a chocolate orange mousse that I later found out was made with Tofu. *Shiver* I ate this before I had chance to take a photo but I can assure you it was actually quite nice.
Champneys Bootcamp Day Three
Hours of exercise 3
Amount of times we pressed snooze on the alarm clock 3
The amount of times we mentioned wine 11
Our last morning involved another 5k walk and a pool session. We were given lunch which was chicken fajitas in a lettuce wrap that was fairly filling. We finished our time at Champneys bootcamp with a brutal skip and tone class that was absolutely exhausting and we practically ran back to the car in case we were roped into anymore exercise.
There were many things I loved about Champneys, the free water bottles that we were given on arrival, the cute flip flops that we got to take home and the way that the therapists encourage you to take a pot from the Elemis counter to try out in the spa. Heavenly. My mom and I both lost two pounds during our weekend but some of our fellow bootcampers lost five pounds! Have you been to Champneys? Which is your favourite?
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