A relaxing time at Malvern Spa
Diane Parkes finds an affordable spa break in an unlikely setting near a business park in Worcestershire.
When I first heard a spa had opened at Malvern I pictured a glorious old manor house set in the Worcestershire countryside. So I was unprepared for the box-like structure that we found on the edge of a retail and business park.
It has to be said that MalvernSpa from the outside is unprepossessing. But it also should be said that once inside the doors, as long as you don’t look out of any windows, you can cut yourself off from the world.
The complex houses a hydrotherapy pool with thermal spa experience, suite of treatment rooms with a range of face and body treats, lounge, relaxation rooms, bar area and first class restaurant.
Checking in on Saturday afternoon we were quickly into our swimming costumes and down to the water spa where the heated pool takes centre stage. Using Malvern Spring waters, it extends out to a walled exterior garden where the steam rises into the air.
The pool is compact so there is not a lot of room for any vigorous keep fit swimming but it is filled with a variety of different water jet experiences. These offer both relaxation such as lying on the jet beds or invigoration – try swimming against a jet of bubbles for exercise.
Alongside the pool is the Thermal Spa Experience, a suite comprising hot and cold rooms including a crystal steam room, arctic and herb saunas, ice buckets, foot spas and tropical rain/cold fog showers.
Trying every experience in this pool area takes well over an hour and certainly stimulates the body from top to toe.
The only downside is that on the two occasions we visited the hydrotherapy area on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning the area was very busy. In fact all the lounge chairs were taken – either with other people or with towels saving the space.
So once we had come out of the pool there was little option but to have a shower and head back into the dry areas. A shame as lazing by the pool with a good book is surely one of the pleasures of a spa weekend.
My husband John and I had also been booked into the therapy suite and we had both opted for the ESPA Holistic Back, Face and Scalp treatment.
