I was lucky enough to win a spa day at Grayshott Spa in Surrey in the Silver Travel Advisor Christmas Stocking Competition. I was planning on taking my sister and as her birthday is in May I decided to book it around this time. We booked a night in a nearby hotel for the night before (see my separate review on The Georgian Hotel in Haslemere) and got a taxi to the spa so that we arrived just after 9.30 am.
Grayshott is a wonderful old house set in 47 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. There is an olde worlde charm about Grayshott. The staff are polite and friendly and we were greeted warmly and taken on a tour of the facilities. Our package was the “Indulgence Day” and this consisted of lunch and a glass of champagne plus use of all the facilities and a 40 minute “Classic” massage and a “Glow on the Go” facial. We were supplied with robes, slippers and towels and we spent the first hour or so exploring the building and getting our bearings. We had a swim in the lovely indoor swimming pool, used the jacuzzi and then, as it turned into a lovely sunny day, we even ventured into the outdoor pool for a while. I even joined an aqua exercise class here which was fun, hard work and, I decided, maybe not designed for short people! The pool is all one depth and any exercise that involved me having to bend my knees actually resulted in me disappearing under the water!
Our treatments were superb. First was a lovely relaxing 40 minute massage which really worked on those knots in my back and shoulders that I didn’t even know I had! Later in the afternoon we had our “Glow on the Go” facial treatment and I have to say it was the best facial I have ever had. Afterwards we both felt relaxed and revitalised. The treatment staff were as lovely as all the other staff we encountered. There was also a gym but we preferred to keep the day a relaxing one and not get ourselves all sweaty! The time just flew by.
The 3 course buffet lunch was nice, especially as it was accompanied by the free glass of champagne, but we were a little disappointed in the food. We are both vegetarians and the 3 veggie dishes on the buffet looked very healthy with plenty of quinoa, lentils and various beans of various types but they all tasted a little bland. Before lunch we had attended a talk “Is Stress Making You Fat?! which was really interesting and informative but it meant we arrived a little late for lunch and there was, by then, very few dessert choices left.
I think Grayshott concentrates more on health than other spas. In fact, there were a lot of people there who were on “The 7 Day Regime” which involves (according to their brochure), blood analysis, nutritional consultations, castor oil compresses (the mind boggles on that one!) and monitoring and support. It seems to be a place that well-to-do older ladies (and we also saw a few well-to-do older men) go to detox and recuperate. It has an older person feel about the place (not that I am any spring chicken) but I bet they don’t get many hen parties booking in! I have visited other spas (Champneys and Ragdale Hall) and I would say that Grayshott is far classier but maybe not quite as easy going and fun as the others. However, we had a brilliant time and can only enthusiastically thank Silver Travel Advisor for the experience!
