The best UK spas for your long-term health and wellbeing

This former farmhouse is surrounded by 72 acres of private land and its jewel is a 25sqm-outdoor heated vitality pool nestled in the spa’s courtyard surrounded by a bio ethanol fireplace and Kelo sauna (made from Kelo pine).

Inside you can do laps in the ten-metre crystal blue swimming pool, or relax in the steam room, which is infused with eucalyptus milk.

The hydrotherapy pool has two airbed loungers, heated tiled loungers, two water cannons and a volcano air pad, and there’s reflexology footbaths, experience showers and a Sleep Lounge if you need a quick power nap.

Spend the night in one of the boutique suites and you’ll get a private deck area and access to the outdoor hot tub.

On site, the Oak House offers lakeside dining, while the Balcony Bar overlooks the lake and woodlands for pre and post dinner aperitifs.

You can also opt for a game of tennis on the courts, time in the boutique gym, or a bike ride exploring the surroundings.

The Spa at Pennyhill Park is set within 120 acres of parkland and is a 45,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility. Inside, there’s the Ballroom pool, a 25m pool with underwater music and fibre optic lighting and a large jacuzzi.

There’s herbal saunas and an intense dry heat sauna, plus steam rooms and several laconiums, some large enough to do hot yoga inside. Foot spas and ceramic heated beds offer a moment of peace.

For ice therapy enthusiasts, there’s a plunge pool, ice igloo and drench bucket. Outside, there’s an 18m heated open-air pool and an indoor/outdoor hydrotherapy pool and three open-air Canadian Hot Tubs.

There are also 23 treatment rooms. The hotel is split over two parts with some rooms located in the original 19th century house. You can opt for a cosy modern room, suites with a four-poster bed, a self-catering cottage or even a room with an eight-man jacuzzi.

There’s the Michelin-starred Latymer restaurant, The Brasserie and the spa’s Themis Restaurant and you can book tennis, pistol shooting and archery.

Perched high on the edge of a cliff with coastal views across the Atlantic Ocean, the majestic Headland Hotel is a sight to behold.

At The Headland Spa, facilities are surrounded by tumbled pebbles creating a soothing effect, and there’s a hydrotherapy pool with bubble seats and jets, plus a hot tub, Cornish salt steam room and Swedish sauna.

The Spa offers ELEMIS and VOYA treatments.

Next door to the hotel, The Aqua Club is an oasis of sleek curves and Cornish stonework. It has a 25-metre training pool, a children’s pool with water fountains and a mushroom shower, and a hydrotherapy pool to soothe aching muscles.

Outside you’ll find a Sunset Spa Pool overlooking the Atlantic, wrapped around by the Edge Pool – the perfect spot for a sunset cocktail.

The Vitality Pool with granite menhir centre, is surrounded by the sun terrace and the Mediterranean-inspired restaurant.

The main hotel offers 88 varieties of places to lay your head (it’s where Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book, The Witches, was filmed by in 1990) and there are 39 self-catering cottages on-site, some with private hot tubs.

Set on a 1,000-acre estate, The Spa at Carden cost £10m to build in 2020 and boasts one of the largest spa gardens in the UK. Awarded ‘Best New Spa’ in the Good Spa Guide 2020, it has won numerous awards since, and got a 5-bubble luxury rating in 2022.

Inside the 4,500sq m facility and garden you can drift between a vitality pool, heated relaxation beds, a Finnish sauna, a bio sauna (an exceptionally humid sauna), experience showers, tepidarium, salt steam and aroma steam rooms.

The Spa Garden is the pièce-de-resistance with its panoramic sauna, outdoor hot tubs, thermal garden pods, outdoor vitality pool and fire pits.

A Bollinger bar offers manicures and pedicures, facials and make-up. In the hotel, there’s 197 bedrooms, two restaurants (one fine dining), and on site there’s two Championship golf courses and a three-acre vineyard where wine tastings and tours are available.

Housed in a Victorian property, this combines the charm of a country lodge with modern luxury.

It is surrounded by lavender fields and inside you’ll find a hydrotherapy pool with five water experiences, a rooftop hot tub overlooking the estate’s stables, a private Rasul steam room for mud treatments, experience showers, steam, sauna, hammam and an ice fountain.

There’s also a beauty room, with spa treatments inspired by ancient Ayurvedic healing, Chinese medicine and shamanic practices.

There’s also a gym and dance studio. The hotel, once a Georgian Hunting Lodge, has 80 bedrooms and the Squires Restaurant and Roxana Bar offer artistic décor and eclectic menus.

If you’re looking for something with eco-creds, this restored 20th-century textile mill had £1.5m investment in 2005 to make it a carbon-neutral building.

It boasts renewable energy through solar roof panels, plus energy-efficient lighting and appliances and its own borehole providing Yorkshire water to the spa and apartments. In the spa, a 15m salt-regulated swimming pool takes centre stage, alongside a poolside sauna and steam room.

There’s also a Heat and Ice experience where guests can immerse themselves in the ritual of heating and cooling the body with herbal infusion rooms and a crystal steam bath, an ice room and plunge pools.

The Relaxation Lounge has large bean bags and beds next to a crackling fire, while outside there’s a sunken hot tub. The building’s apartment-style accommodation is typically split over two levels with 1-2 bedrooms, lounge area, TV, kitchen, dining area, bathroom and balcony.