Clean Getaway – United Kingdom

In honour of the tradition of a new year reset, we rounded up a selection of historic hotels with outstanding spa facilities

1. Lucknam Park, Wiltshire (above) 

Driving up Lucknam Park’s tree-lined avenue to the Palladian mansion set like a jewel at the end one’s shoulders palpably drop. Sitting in 500 acres of tranquil Wiltshire countryside, the central part of the house was built by James Wallis, a wealthy cloth merchant from Bristol, in the late 17th century, with the pillared portico and bowed wings added later. Today, Lucknam Park’s diverse range of activities spans everything from fine dining in the Michelin-starred Park restaurant to equestrian training or the sheer indulgence of its outstanding spa. If you have the energy afterwards, Stonehenge or Bath await on the doorstep, but as an Arcadian setting for simply unwinding and getting away from it all, Lucknam remains ideal.

2. Dormy House, Worcestershire

Original flagstone floors and oak panelling offer glimpses of the 17th-century farm Dormy House was in its former life. Today merging farmhouse chic with Scandinavian style in the heart of the Cotswolds, Dormy House has benefited from a multi-million pound renovation, not least in the House Spa which boasts a lavender-infused sauna, salt steam room and juniper-laced Finnish cabin. The hot tub on the Spa Terrace is warming enough for the frostiest of days, or you can choose between a candlelit infinity pool or hot mineral mud bathing. Perched above the pretty village of Broadway in Worcestershire, Dormy House is one of three exquisite places to stay on the Farncombe Estate alongside younger siblings Foxhill Manor and the Fish Hotel.

3. Rockliffe Hall, County Durham

Every detail at Rockliffe Hall in County Durham seems to have been designed to help you unwind, from huge king-sized beds in elegant, spacious rooms to the tranquil countryside setting with the River Tees meandering by. The elegant redbrick mansion, which dates to the 18th century, boasts 61 bedrooms, a beautiful golf course and an award-winning spa – one of the largest in the country. The new spa garden blends indoor and outdoor space with the latter including two hot pools, an infinity pool and Jacuzzi, and landscaped areas overlooking the grounds. Choose from a huge array of therapies from Tibetan sound massages to Neom happiness treatments and relax in the sleep retreat afterwards on the sound-wave therapy beds.

4. Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, Cumbria

Famous for its fabulous spa facilities, Gilpin is a family-run hotel in beautiful Windermere. Offering sanctuary to the world-weary since 1919, when Joseph Cunliffe needed to escape Manchester after suffering lung damage during the First World War, the original Arts and Crafts house began with five bedrooms and now boasts 14, with six garden suites in a separate annexe. But the pièce de résistance is the clutch of latest additions: five cedar-clad spa lodges each with a private en suite spa and surrounded by a walled garden. And if that weren’t choice enough, there’s also the Fake House on a separate 100-acre estate: just six individual suites that share a fully staffed boutique hotel by a private lake enveloped by woodland.

5. Hartwell House & Spa, Buckinghamshire

“Why wouldst thou leave calm Hartwell’s green abode?” asked Lord Byron of Louis XVIII’s return, in 1814, to assume his throne in France. The exiled king held court at Hartwell for five years and was one in a long line of illustrious guests there. Just an hour’s drive from central London, Hartwell stands in 94 acres of exquisitely landscaped Buckinghamshire parkland veritably littered with beautiful things – a ruined Gothic church, stately lake bridge and numerous 18th-century statues and garden buildings. Stay in the house itself; Hartwell Court, the estate’s converted coach-house; or the Old Rectory. Hartwell Spa is suitably stately, inspired by the design of an orangery, with nods to 18th-century classicism even in the design of the swimming pool.