The food post will come later, this is about the lovely spa that is based at Donnington Valley Hotel in Newbury. I was treated to a day there which was fabulous. My only concern is that I would be hungry but more of that later.
After being offered a delicious berry smoothie, made freshly in the Club Lounge, I filled in all the necessary paperwork which wasn’t too arduous. I was then shown around the spa. There is a great lounge with free wifi and papers along with menus for food and drink which looked quite yummy. The pool is large and the whole place is spotless. When I arrived there were some local people doing an aqua fit class which I watched from a distance. Next to the pool is a jacuzzi, a steam room, a sauna and an aroma room, again all very clean and pretty. For the sake of research I tried everything out which was great fun. In the changing room they provided hairdryers, hair straighteners and different bottles of everything you might need.
Some of the classes are listed above but if you go onto the website it has much more details
The Club Lounge where you could relax, have lunch, a healthy or not so healthy drink, read or use the free wifi.
The Smoothie Menu, these were yummy AND tasted good for you, so different to a gin and tonic.
This is the bento box menu, this is where I started to worry about portion control but realised I could always order something else if I needed to, don’t forget that I DO have malnutrition.
The changing room showing some of the hair dryers and straighteners. They have thought of everything.
This is a dark picture of one of the many treatment rooms, they also have a spray tan room, a very well fitted out gym and everything is clean and attractive. Rachel was the poor soul who had to massage me and she did an amazing job. I should probably admit that I know very little about massages. Tony loves them and in Thailand I can hear the little Thai ladies giggling as he starts snoring about 5 minutes in.  I normally have a salt scrub with the thought that at least I am getting something out of it that is more tangible so this was one of my first massages. Rachel was amazing, she had very pointy tweaky fingers and kept kneading things out of areas of my back that I hadn’t realised I had, apparently one can develop what some people call knots but are little calcium deposits. She worked up and down either side of my spine and was incredibly efficient. The massage I had was Immune Recovery and perfect for anyone getting ready for winter and it helps with allergies.
Cleansing, clearing and decongesting, this upper body treatment helps clear the mind and support the immune system. A back, face and scalp massage, using our powerful Eucalyptus and Pine essential oil blends, will help decongest and alleviate the symptoms of flu or seasonal allergies.
• Use this treatment to boost your immune system or at the first signs of cold and flu or seasonal allergies
I felt great afterwards although a little wobbly so had a sit in the chill out recovery room before going down for the lunch I had chosen when I arrived.
The bento box comes like a surprise to be opened along with warm crusty bread and butter.
Ta dah! The most fantastic box of edible goodies unveiled. The quantities were huge (and this is coming from me, the eater of the century), there were new potatoes with chopped red onions and herbs, a nicoise sort of salad with green beans, onions, olives, tomatoes plus huge fat fresh prawns with a marie rose dressing to dip them in.
This is the very healthy tart that came with the bento box, it must have been healthy as a) it was in the bento box and b) it looked perfectly at ease with the prawns and salads. How beautiful is that?
Ok, as I have no pride I am going to show you the next treatment I had, I actually really loved it even if it did make me look absurd but if you read the bit from the website you can see the wonders it can achieve. If I could I would have this every week! Again I had Rachel who is really good and I also had a shoulder massage which was gentle and relaxing.
100% of clients say their face is more youthful looking, their skin lifted, 83% say their wrinkles look filled in**.
**Test carried out in treatment rooms on a sample of 5 people, aged from 25-54, results confirmed by a panel of 16 beauty therapists.
*Average results for people given the treatment
Following this massage I went to the bar to wait for Tony as we also ate at the WinePress Restaurant that evening. Tony paid for his food. As a presnack snack I had olives and feta, then as a snack I had tomato and basil soup, all served very sweetly to me by a waiter who didn’t even look as if he thought I was incredibly greedy.
A lot of effort has gone into this hotel and spa and it shows, the decorations are delightful, I didn’t see the rooms but am sure they would be great. There is some lovely artwork to enjoy, some beautiful sculptures dotted around the whole hotel and grounds and, whilst I didn’t visit it this time there is a very good golf course with some very hard holes I am told.
I will report on the food later. Thanks to Donnington Valley for arranging this review.