Historical weekend breaks
Page 2
Article continues
|
| The luscious lawns of Ragdale Hall
|
The healthy option
Ragdale Hall, Leicestershire
Set in the rolling
beauty of the Leicestershire countryside, Ragdale Hall, originally a
medieval hunting lodge and falconry, is now one of the UK’s best-loved
health farms. Despite the extensive and award-winning line-up of beauty
and holistic health treatments on offer – which range from excellent
Thai massages to purr-inducing Elemis facials to Lomi Lomi (that’s
Hawaiian massage) to electro acupuncture – it’s firmly, and
refreshingly, resisted the trendy tag of ‘spa’, instead calling itself
a ‘health hydro’.
All rooms have a Victorian air, but feature
super-modern bathrooms with showers and baths so good you could happily
soak in the tub for hours. Facilities include a 25-metre swimming pool
and a modern gym that has a number of classes, such as yoga, pilates
and tai chi. You needn’t feel pressured to exert yourself, though,
because lounging around in your dressing gown is very much accepted.
Appetites
can promptly be satisfied in the grand dining room, where meals are
supplied with labels indicating their fat and calorie content. Old
English charm, enforced healthiness… how could you not leave feeling
fabulous?
Ragdale Hall Health Hydro, Ragdale Village, Melton
Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE14 3PB (01664 434 831/www.ragdaleall.co.uk).
From £292 per person per night at weekends (includes meals, use of
facilities and two 25-minute treatments).Getting there 2 hours 40 mins
by car, M1 to junction 21a. 1 hour 45 minutes by train from King’s
Cross to Melton Mowbray, changing at Peterborough (from £40 for a saver
return), then taxi.
