Top Ten Best Luxury Spa Hotels in UK

At Design Restaurants, our first passion will always be food, but our travels take us to some exquisite properties which also have some other wonderful additional benefits – top of our list being a fabulous spa. This particular top 10 provoked impassioned pitches in the office and we ended up whittling the list down from an original 18. There are some possible notable hotels missing (Limewood, Danesfield House) but this list represents our current favourites. They are not listed in any particular order – that may have resulted in fighting breaking out…

Coworth Park – Ascot, Berkshire

Partially submerged in the Spa’s landscape, its upper floor takes in breathtaking views of the surrounding English parkland. This sense of the natural environment continues through to the interior design, with every area of the Spa flooded with natural light, crisp contemporary architecture, art and sculptures throughout. The beautiful swimming pool plays underwater music and they have a great range of natural and luxurious product brands.

Dining facilities – Restaurant Coworth Park, The Barn and Spatisserie within the spa. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

Pennyhill Park – Bagshot, Surrey

Pennyhill Park’s Spa has deservedly attained a multitude of awards for the quality of its facilities, service and standards being also has the largest hotel spa in Europe. Enjoy every spa luxury in one facility from sensory relaxation lounges, herbal saunas, aromatic laconium, tepidarium, ice caves and an abundance of pools. The facility is 45,000 square foot and well laid out so that you can quite easily feel a sense of escapism.

Seaham Hall – Seaham, County Durham

The Spa at Seaham Hall has been restored with the property benefiting from a £1.5 million upgrade under new ownership. It has a fabulous cliff top location and relaxed feel, voted ‘Best for Style’ by the Sunday Times. There is a large swimming pool with hydro, indoor and outdoor jacuzzis, saunas, steam room and hamman. The spa is set in lovely gardens surrounding it away from the hotel itself and it has a roof garden. There are loungers surrounding the main pool where staff call every 20 minutes and offer you hot or cold drinks.

Dining facilities – Blunos Sea Grill and Ozone at Seaham Hall. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

Chewton Glen – New Milton, Hampshire

Chewton Glen is distinctively English, very welcoming and professional and an ideal place for first class pampering.  The spa lives up to the 5 star reputation of the hotel being spacious, luxurious and featuring the latest technology and ‘Air Machine’ resistance gym equipment.  Offering a magnificent hydrotherapy pool  and centre-piece classic style ozone treated pool.  The hotel has 58 stunningly appointed bedrooms and its restaurant ‘Vetiver’ is a three AA rosette destination restaurant in its own right.

Dining facilities – Vetiver Restaurant. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

Cowley Manor – Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

Cowley’s award-winning C-Side Spa has a spectacular green slate lined indoor pool and a luxurious outdoor pool, both heated all year round. The outdoor poolside space turns into an adult only area in the evening with cocktails and chilled music. The Green and Spring products used in the treatments are exclusive to Cowley, inspired by the English countryside blending herbs and flowers native to the British Isles.

Dining facilities – The Restaurant

Bailiffscourt – Climping, West Sussex

Bailiffscourt Spa is a design awarded spa for its beautiful architecture in the style of a Sussex barn with exposed timber frames. Part of the perfectly preserved medieval style hotel estate and set in 30 acres of picturesque private pastureland, the spa’s décor is of polished limestone floors and natural green oak beams with expansive windows to bring the ‘nature in’ effect. Enjoy out and indoor pools year-round with relaxation rooms, calming treatment rooms and fully equipped state-of-art gym.

Dining facilities – The Tapestry Restaurant. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

The Scarlet – Mawgan Porth, Cornwall

We have a definite crush on this spa.  Luxury tented rooms are candle lit by lanterns and you are invited to chill in cocoon-like pods swinging from the ceiling after your treatment. The cliff top hot-tub has become an almost iconic image and their natural chemical-free pool has spawned a new movement in eco. Slather yourself in rich mineral mud within their Rhassoul, experience a traditional rubdown in the hammam or try your hand at massage guided by one of their therapists.

Dining facilities – The Restaurant

Lucknam Park – Colerne, Wiltshire

Since opening in  2008 The Spa at Lucknam Park has quickly become regarded as one of the finest in the UK.  At one with its surroundings; wood, marble and glass reflect the warm seasonal hues of the estate’s 500-acre parkland. Your time at the Spa, with its nine state of the art therapy rooms, extends well beyond the hands on treatments of Anne Semonin, French spa and beauty specialist and Carita Paris to the stunning 20 metre indoor pool with indoor and outdoor hydrotherapy pool, 5 thermal cabins, salt water plunge pool, experience showers and relaxation room.

Dining facilities – 1 Michelin Starred The Park Restaurant, The Brasserie. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

The Grove – Chandler’s Cross, Hertfordshire

The Grove, set in the Hertfordshire countryside in the south of England, is a very special luxury hotel. The Sequoia Spa with its advanced facials, hot stones, envelopments, Ayurvedic treatments and many more, has something for your every need and mood. Using only ESPA pure and potent naturally advanced products to deliver outstanding results for the face, body and mind, every treatment is a totally personal experience, delivered by a caring, professional therapist. Following your treatments, spend time in the inviting relaxation room, or enjoy more of the spa facilities, sauna, steam, Jacuzzi and pools.

Dining facilities – Colette’s, The Glasshouse, The Stables. Dining benefits for members available, details here.

Calcot Manor – nr Tetbury, Gloucestershire 

Calcot Manor’s Spa has held prominent standing in the best UK spa category since its opening back in 2003. Loved for its welcoming atmosphere and treatments as it is for its quality facilities, the spa is set in the beautiful 220 acre grounds of this pretty 14th Century manor house hotel. A relaxed environment emits throughout this modern and stylish yet comfortable complex. Enjoy outdoor swimming and relaxing as well as a beautiful indoor swimming pool with sauna, steam room, gym and exercise studio.