Lifehouse

Frinton Road

Thorpe-le-Soken
Essex
CO16 0JD
01255 860 050

Day Package Price: £ 59.00
Grooming From: £ 25.00
Treatments From: £ 66.00

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Those looking for an indulgent weekend (a treat or a hen-do perhaps), there is an extensive treatment menu - Babor body treatments (the Stressed Executive Body massage is 65 minutes of bliss) and Jessica manicures and pedicures. You can while away the hours in the swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room which are housed in an impressive room with giant floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the grounds (which are worth a wander round, if you can tear yourself away from the spa’s facilities). As well as the usual relaxation room, there are sleep pods (huge double beds), where your therapist will leave you to drift off after your treatment. There is even an Aveda hair salon so you can treat yourself to a cut, blow-dry or colour. Throughout the day you can head to the bar and restaurant, which offer a great mix of indulgent and healthy food and drink choices to suit your weekend. Be warned: the meal portions are small. If you still feel peckish after dinner, the cheese board and cocktail menu should satisfy.

Alternatively, you can head to Lifehouse for a get-fit break. The bootcamp weekends offer a happy mix of treatments, nutrition consultations, bootcamp session and one-to-one personal training classes. What makes the gym stand out from others is the wealth of equipment and the expert knowledge of the trainers (they really know their stuff). The gym is small, but perfectly formed and as well as the usual, offers some of the newest fitness equipment available (some have barely reached the best gyms in London) including TRX, Vipers, Kettlebells and Nordic Walking. There is even a kranking machine in the gym (and five in a studio, for classes) where you can work your arms, just as you would your legs in a spinning class. The grounds are huge, so you can go for running, cycling or walking, weather dependent. Luckily, the beds in the hotel are by far the comfiest you’re likely to ever sleep in, so you can rest up after a punishing day of getting fit.

ELLE’s Tip: The one-of-a-kind Oriental Bathing Experience, £122 (the spa’s signature treatment), is very long and completely unlike any other – you go on a journey in and out of different rooms (for a Thai foot bathing ritual to start through a mix of hot and cold bathing pools, a body scrub and finishing up with a short full body massage. But be warned, it is best suited to those with a more holistic and spiritual approach to life, if that doesn’t sound like you spend your money on a body treatment and pedicure instead.