I really do love a spa day, and have enjoyed quite a few lovely luxurious places over the last few years, but the chance for Spa days are few and far between now the little one has arrived. So when we were invited down to enjoy the facilities at The Malvern Spa for the day I was determined to fit it in!
Last week during half term both Lee and I had some annual leave booked, so took advantage of Imogen now being in nursery and headed down the motorway for an hour into Worcestershire. For some reason I was expecting the Spa Hotel to be deep in the countryside but as it happens its more in the town than I anticipated and easy to find.
We were welcomed by the lovely spa hostesses, who go through your day with you and let you what to expect, where to get refreshments and how the lunch or afternoon tea process works, depending on what type of package you have booked, and then give you a quick tour of the facilities. The entrance foyer was a lovely relaxing space, where you can revisit throughout the day to have a drink or snack or just relax.
We only had a few hours in the spa itself before our afternoon tea at 2pm, so didn’t opt for any particular treatments, choosing just to relax instead.
The facilities here at the spa are second to none with a unique 20m indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy pool accommodating numerous individual features including vigorous bubble massage stations, powerful water jets, gentle hydrotherapy beds, and spacious, relaxing booths for you to chillout whilst soaking in the warmed Malvern spring waters. I can’tell you how impressed I was with the pool area and the pool itself, definitely one of the best I’ve seen.
You can enjoy hot and cold drinks by the pools as well which is a bonus, as many spas only allow water poolside. As well as the amazing pool, you can also enjoy the Crystal Steam Room with a fibre-optic ceiling display, infused with essential oils, Salt Grotto, Herb Sauna and a Kelo Sauna – one of only 10 in the UK, this unique rustic sauna is constructed from naturally fragrant wood found only in the arctic circle. I enjoyed the choice of steam rooms and saunas – and found the crystal steam room one of the best I’ve been in recently!
There are also fragrant showers, a foot spa area, ice fountain and bucket drench shower filled with icy water to complete the experience. (And yes, we both dared the ice cold bucket shower!) If you’re feeling energetic there is also a fitness suite to get your gym fix too, or at the other end of the scale a dimly lit relaxation room to read or snooze your time away.
We had a lovely few hours in the spa and came away feeling a lot more relaxed than when we had entered.
Alongside the foyer is the bar and restaurant. I found it a rather perfunctory space, not really in keeping with the rest of the spa, it was here we were to have our afternoon tea.
We sat down for afternoon tea at 2pm, when the lunch for the spa day guests was still in full swing, so if you want the area a bit more peaceful I would opt for a little later. We were offered a choice of tea or coffee, but it was a bit disappointing that there was no choice of teas, just their standard tea, whatever that was.
According to the website description, for the Afternoon Tea you can expect ‘a selection of finely cut sandwiches, fancies and freshly baked scones with jam and clotted cream’. When the tea arrived we were a little disappointed that its appearance didn’t really live up to either that description or the pictures on the website, it wasn’t as refined as we had expected. No one explained what was on the afternoon tea until we asked or offered us any refills on the tea either.
I would question whether the scones and cakes were homemade, which I think is so important for an afternoon tea. The scones themselves and the carrot cake were the best of the sweet treats.
Without question I would go back to the Malvern Spa as we LOVED the spa facilities, but I’m not sure I would book an afternoon tea again, perhaps the savoury lunch options may have been better.
Thanks to the Malvern Spa for inviting us down to try out the facilities and the afternoon tea.
