After more than a year of renovation, The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath, Carli Humphries investigates the spa’s very own makeover!

This can’t be good. Two weeks of full work into the New Year and I’m already in need of a serious massage. My shoulders and back are basically the divas of an otherwise laid back bod (honest) and clearly being desk-bound in the January cold sent them on a decisive strike. Good, then, that an end-of-January birthday meant I could plead with Fashionable Mother to rescue my aching muscles and treat me to a full body massage and a morning’s spa.

First Impressions …

I’m no stranger to a good spa. But Fashionable Mother takes spa-frequenting to another level, so locations are always chosen with care. This time usual haunts were discarded in favour of trying the newly revamped Spa at the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath. The hotel is still undergoing renovation (worth bearing in mind if you’re a sucker for lovely Bath architecture, as the front of the hotel is still clad in scaffolding) but the spa re-opened five weeks ago, newly plumped sofas and fresh paint still very much giving the game away.

What’s new …

I would describe the spa as a lovely addition to a nice hotel, not a destination in itself. We had a half-day with an hour’s treatment and lunch included, and it was more than enough. The space given over to the spa is modest, but in keeping with comparable locations of its size.  We were greeted by Adam, a charming young man who was the perfect advert for front of house: perceptive, helpful and on hand every time we needed something. The changing rooms are snug (I wouldn’t like the fight for bench space at peak times) but very nicely finished, with thoughtful additional extras by ESPA dotted around the sinks and in the showers (only two showers, again, don’t go en masse and then all need to wash your hair at once).

When to go …

A Thursday morning in January is clearly not a peak spa time, and we had the pool area to ourselves. The pool was lovely – small but as warm as a bath, which is how I like to roll. There were no loungers or chairs around the pool, hence a couple of hours being more than enough time. It isn’t the place to bring a pile of magazines and set up camp. However they have made a great use of the space available, with a fabulous traditional wooden hot tub (even warmer than the pool – perfect) and a sauna and steam room which had a reassuring new-spa look and feel.

What to do …

After a couple of hours we were ready for our treatment, which was very, very good. A full body massage was my medicine of choice and the lovely Charlotte listened patiently to me wearily describe my ailments. She may have been all of five foot two with the tiny wrists of a fairy, but she clearly has magical powers, as an hour later my back felt re-set and re-aligned. Anyone with tight shoulder blades will understand that a massage can be anything other than relaxing when a therapist is digging knots from underneath your ribcage, but Charlotte managed to manipulate my tightly-wound diva shoulders into a state of some refreshment.

What we loved …

If you’re planning on dining at the well-respected Dower House restaurant then you’re in for a real treat – after warm duck egg followed by beautifully-prepared plaice I give my compliments to the chef indeed.

What we think …

I think a fantastic treatment really can make or break a spa experience, so on that basis alone the Royal Crescent would be edging close to the dizzy realms of my Good Spa List.  Everything on offer was well-presented, and the service impeccable, which certainly isn’t a given at any type of spa. As a direct plea I would ask that the bath towels please be made bigger (they were the size of hand towels), but the overall experience was exactly what I needed – calm, collected and caring.