Situated in the imposing Titanic Mills – a textile factory built the same year as the doomed ship – Titanic Spa proudly calls itself the UK’s first eco-spa. But rather than offering jacuzzis full of pond water or mud packs dug out of the nearby Pennine hills, its eco-credentials come in the shape of a redeveloped, carbon-neutral building plastered in solar panels and with energy-efficient lighting as well as its own private borehole. This spring water isn’t just available for guest hydration, but supplies the spa’s plunge pool and salt-regulated swimming pool, as well as the showers. Think of it as bathing in Yorkshire’s own Evian.
If it seems slightly strange to name your spa after a doomed aquatic journey, then the Titanic Spa manages to swim rather than sink, thanks to rousing series of hammam-like rooms, which they have somewhat dramatically branded as the ‘Heat and Ice Experience’. Thankfully this doesn’t mean you’ll be running a Game of Thrones-style gauntlet, but rather strolling through a series of very hot rooms followed by an ice chamber. What it lacks in the Nordic elegance of jumping to a pile of crisp white snow straight after a sauna, it makes up for in being extremely bloody cold. After the heat of the herbal infusion room, sauna cabin, aromatherapy and steam rooms – as well as some foot baths which we could have passed on, to be frank – you will leave glowing like never before.
The food at the on-site bistro wasn’t particularly inspiring, but after an excellent deep tissue massage – who knew our shoulders could click like that? – we weren’t particularly hungry. Facials, body wraps and a private mud chamber are also on offer, as is an outdoor hottub, reflexology, reiki, and hopi ear candle treatments.
