The non-alcoholic drinks

The atrium bar is a buzzy place for an aperitif – all marble-topped counter and tangerine bar stools – so it’s good news that the non-alcoholic cocktail is as fun as it is diverse. Peach bellinis make you feel like you’re drinking the real thing. Low-alcohol wines and beers are also available. 

The upshot

An all-seasons, all trimesters, special occasion sort of place with as much or as little activity as you want (the whole of the New Forest is on your doorstep, with wellies and bikes available) but you also get a real sense of place without leaving the spa so you don’t need to feel bad about staying put (even in your room with a bowl of spaghetti). Also, if you really want a massage on your front (harder to come by than you’d imagine), book here.

The details: Double rooms from £405, excluding breakfast (buffet and a main for £25 per person). Read the full hotel review here. 

Dormy House, Cotswolds 

A cutesy Cotswold inn with a cosseting, petite spa attached. It’s part of the bigger Farncombe estate, home to family-friendly The Fish and the Arts & Crafts-era Foxhill Manor, meaning plenty of grounds and restaurants to enjoy (though note that only guests of Dormy House and Foxhill Manor have access to the spa). The cosy, wood-panelled feel of Dormy House would make it a particularly welcome weekend spot in autumn and winter (especially Christmas time) – ‘hygge’ incarnate, if you will (the owners are, in fact, Danish). 

The treatment to get

For facials, look no further than Tata Harper, the ‘queen of green’ that has garnered a cult following the world over for her hardworking but all natural ingredients that are grown on her farm in Vermont, USA. I am a fan of her products, so when I heard that she was offering treatments at a countryside spot (her treatments had, until this summer, only been available at The Lanesborough in London) I was excited. 

I had been suffering from volatile skin, owing to the powerful (and hard to isolate) combination of maskne and hormone-susceptible pregnancy skin – lots of hard-to-beat pimples and no warning as to when they’d arrive. 

Based on the above concerns, I was booked in for a Detox Solution facial (£125 for 60 mins) which uses some of the brand’s headline products in order to counter the effects of congestion and damaged, stressed skin: layer upon sweetly smelling layer was heaped on, including the Purifying and Regenerating Cleansers and the Purifying Mask, the latter of which really tingles (owing to the white clay and papaya enzymes). All are available to purchase from the spa’s shop should you want to recreate it (or part of it) from home.