Spas and relaxation
Whether it's for a soothing back massage or an aromatherapy session, if you know where to look, you're in for a relaxing treat.
Indulge yourself with a night at 42 The Calls, one of England's leading boutique hotels set in a converted corn mill on the riverside in Leeds. Room rates include a bottle of Champagne, and there's a Michelin-starred restaurant next door. After breakfast, head for the Waterfall Spa, a boutique day-spa in the city centre, complete with hydrotherapy pool, tropicarium, steam room and big day beds behind bead curtains.
For something more traditional, hop north of Leeds to the Turkish Baths in Harrogate, a colourful Moorish fantasy with Islamic arches and screens, painted ceilings, glazed brickwork and terrazzo floors. For around £15, visitors can spend as long as they like moving between the three inter-connecting chambers – the Tepidarium (warm), the Lapidarium (hot) and the Laconium (hottest), before relaxing once more in the elegant Frigidarium (cool). Reinstate yourself in the outside world with a light, floaty walk around the floral displays of Valley Gardens.
Pleasant lands
Known for its roman heritage - and as the home of Hollyoaks in more recent times, Chester is a great pace to visit in order to relax. Combine retail therapy with aromatherapy at the Scented Garden in Chester: soothe tired feet with a reflexology session or an aromatherapy neck and back massage. The Chester Grosvenor and Spa, housed in a Grade-II listed building, is a peaceful haven with traditional and holistic treatments and a thermal suite including herbal saunas, ice fountains and a salt grotto.
Togas and treatments
No self-respecting spa junky can avoid Bath, with its 2000-year history as a spa town. Back in the days of togas and banquets, the Roman Baths and Pump Room were an integral part of day-to-day life. After extensive renovations, this rich history has been brought back to life, while in Thermae Bath Spa visitors can now bathe in the natural thermal waters – history has never felt so good! The rooftop pool here provides astonishing views across the city and medieval Bath Abbey.
In London you can really go to town in your efforts to relax at sumptuous hotels like the Dorchester and the Mayfair, which offer the full range of treatments tailored to your skin type. The Sanderson, a lavish "urban spa" in the heart of London's West End, takes things a step further, offering guests a Philippe Starck-designed retreat into a world of fantasy and wellbeing.
Combine retail therapy with aromatherapy at the Scented Garden in Chester: soothe tired feet with a reflexology session or an aromatherapy neck and back massage. Elsewhere, take the weight off your feet in a flotation tank – a warm solution of Epsom salts designed to relieve tension and promote relaxation. Try the London Float Centre or the Relaxation Centre in Bristol.
Alternatively, take a holistic approach to "me time" and tap into the wisdom of the East at Tor Spa Retreat, England's leading Ayurvedic health spa – a little piece of Kerala just outside Canterbury. Or set out from York for the idyllic Madhyamaka Meditation Centre and develop Buddhist techniques for stilling the mind and promoting happiness.
Picnic peace
The surprising amount of green spaces in our cities provides plenty of opportunities for relaxation. Lie in the shade of a tree and spot woodpeckers on Mousehold Heath, a 122-acre woodland nature reserve within the city walls of Norwich. Or pack a picnic and head for Derby Arboretum, England's first public arboretum, donated to the people of Derby by Joseph Strutt back in 1840. Lose yourself in the 5,000-acre expanse of Windsor Great Park (and keep an eye out for the Queen herself, who is sometimes seen horse riding in these ancient royal hunting grounds).
Newcastle'sSaltwell Park is one of the finest examples of a Victorian pleasure park – a leafy refuge complete with landscaped gardens, boating lake and woodland trails. Meanwhile in Barnes lies one of London's great surprise packages – an expanse of protected wetlands within city bounds. To many people, these tranquil wetlands serve simply as an oasis – a welcome breather from city life. Threaded by boardwalks, a mosaic of lakes, ponds and lagoons is divided into fourteen different wetland habitats, from an Australian billabong to Siberian tundra. It’s not just bird-lovers who are drawn here; the wetlands are popular with children and local artists, who come to capture the beauty of these meandering waterways, which are alive year-round with birds, bats, amphibians, water voles and dragon flies.
