One of my favourite things to do is go to a spa occasionally for either a day or an overnight stay. I have been lucky enough to have tried out a few in recent years.
I found out that there was a new spa opening in Essex and kept an eye on the web site for more details.
So Lifehouse Spa opened in November 2010 and has now been open long enough to warrant a visit as by now any teething problem will have been ironed out. Lifehouse were doing a special offer of “bring a friend for free” on most of their day or stay packages (ongoing for 2011 if booked by June 12th). I took the opportunity to book a one night classic stay for Craig and I which we took a few days ago. The classic stay includes overnight accommodation, a 3 course dinner on the first day, breakfast and a 2 course lunch on the second day and a 50 minute house treatment each.
As the spa is in Essex we found it no problem (Craig is from the area originally). It’s easy to find as the entrance has a big white sign. We turned in and parked the car in the large car park then got our bags and made our way down the path to the main entrance. As we entered we were greeted by a member of the reception staff and sat down at one of the desks where we filled out a health questionnaire each and were given our itineraries for the next 24 hours. I had already given the times we wanted to eat lunch and dinner when I made the booking. Our treatment time had been set for us but it was booked for the first day before dinner which I thought was the best time to have it.
We were shown to our room (we were upgraded to a better room) by a very nice and extremely keen young member of staff who proceeded to explain everything in our room i.e. the shower controls and how to use the safe. The room was nice and big and had a lovely view over the gardens complete with balcony doors. The bathroom had a large shower and toiletries, shower caps, robes and slippers were provided. There were also plenty of towels for us both. The room had a drawer which is actually a lockable safe. This was really handy to leave your valuables in. I didn’t have my laptop with me but the drawer would have been big enough to store it if I had.
One of the key cards that we were given was split so it was taken away and a new one returned to us very quickly. One of the key cards needs to go in the slot to work the electricity. The tea & coffee tray in the room was well stocked including a really nice range of herbal teas. Once we were alone we had a quick cuppa while unpacking a few bits and pieces and getting changed.
Now we were ready to go and explore the spa, so dressing gowns on and map in hand off we went. We were given a token for a free tea, coffee or soft drink so we headed up to The Strawberry Tree for a coffee while we looked at the class timetable and decided what we wanted to do. Coffee ordered and we sat out on the terrace overlooking the gardens.
We had been given a timetable of activities and I wanted to try at least on thing while we were there and also use the gym facilities. We decided to book into the Breakfast club “playtime” session. More about this later. Other activities on offer were Krank it up, Bootcamp, Zumba, Yoga and ViPR 3D. the activity's start at 7am each morning and end at around 8.30pm. everything on the timetable you are given is complimentary and you can sign up more as many or as few as you like (or none at all). They do ask that you book in for any class or activity you wish to join so that they know how many people are doing what.
Coffee finished we popped down to the retail area as Craig wanted to buy a pair of swim shorts (a forgotten item). Unfortunately there was only one pair on sale in the wrong size so he was going to have to use his gym shorts and let them dry. The shop sold a wide variety of beauty products including some of the brands they use in the spa (Jessica and Babor). I was very tempted by a bright pink Lifehouse hoodie but unfortunately my size wasn’t available.
After this we headed down to the pool area for some relaxation. Here we found a large Jacuzzi with two hydrotherapy jets, a sauna, steam room, salt steam room and swimming pool. The Jacuzzi is big enough for about 8 people at a time and was lovely and warm and the bubbles nice and powerful. There are also two flat areas where you can lie down in the bubbles. I tried both steam rooms and the sauna all of which I enjoyed. There are 2 experience showers in which you can have different temperatures of water rain over you. There is also an ice cold plunge pool which I was not brave enough to try although I did stand on the step and put both feet in up to my ankles. That was more than enough for me. Next door to the wet area is the swimming pool which a decent enough size to get some lengths in if you want to. If like me you just want to relax then there are lots of really comfortable sun loungers around the pool. I took advantage of these while I read one of the many magazines dotted around the pool.
After we had finished in the pool area we headed to the bar to refuel before our treatments. Craig ordered an afternoon tea and I had a roast beef & horseradish cream sandwich and a coffee. It was lovely sitting in the bar as it is surrounded by glass walls and was really light and bright. There are plenty of magazines and newspapers so it’s easy to loose yourself. My sandwich was nice enough although I couldn’t really taste the horseradish. My coffee unfortunately was like rocket fuel. Now I like my coffee, in fact I drink far too much of the stuff but this was so strong I couldn’t finish it. Craig’s afternoon tea arrived on a 3 tier cake stand. The bottom layer had a couple of smoked salmon finger sandwiches which Craig said were very nice. The middle tier had a selection of mini cakes and pastries. These were beautiful and were like little works of art. On the top tier was an apple & cinnamon scone, clotted cream and a mini pot of jam. I had a bite of this and it was lovely. The bar area got very busy at this time of day with other guests also ordering tea and cakes. This meant that a few mistakes were made by the staff such as no teaspoon for the tea or knife for the scone was brought. However as soon as we asked it was rectified very quickly.
After we had eaten tea we headed up to the relaxation lounge to wait for our treatment time. This lounge area is huge and there are plenty of sofas, chairs, relaxing beds and 3 electric massage chairs. I loved sitting in one of these reading a magazine and getting a massage. It’s nice and quiet in the lounge which means you can fall asleep if you want to.
When it was time for our treatments we went to the spa desk (The Hub) and we were given a buzzer and told to go and relax nearby and the buzzer would go off when our therapist was ready. My buzzer went of first so of I went. I was taken into one of the treatment rooms for my house body massage. I was a little disturbed to discover that I was expected to get onto the massage bed into the same sheets as the person before me! Either that or the bed had been very hurriedly made. Anyway I decided to just get on with it and got onto the bed. The therapist then began my massage. It was a nice enough treatment but it did feel a little rushed even though it was 50 minutes. However by the end of the massage I was nicely relaxed.
I met Craig back in the lounge. He had a house facial which he thoroughly enjoyed. He did look good and he was very pleased with the whole treatment.
Nicely relaxed it was time to head back to our room to a quick coffee before we got ready for dinner which was booked for 8.30pm. We were told earlier in the day that if we wanted to we could wear our robes all day including to dinner. We didn’t do this as after wearing them all day it was nice to get dressed; however one or two others wore theirs.
By the time we arrived in the restaurant it was very busy. We were shown to a table and given menus and a wine list. Yes I did just say wine list. This may be a spa but there is no detox here. I ordered a lovely (large) glass of rose which would help me to relax a little bit more.
We were really pleasantly surprised by the food at the spa. In the past some of the food I have had in spas has been functional rather than anything else. But here it is restaurant quality, using local ingredients and good very well. For the price we paid for an overnight stay the food represented excellent value for money. It was a 3 course menu with plenty to choose from in each course. All the waiters have ipads which they use to take the orders.
To start I had crab risotto with Greek yoghurt. I love risotto although have never had yoghurt in it before. It was delicious and not too claggy. It was a fairly small portion but plenty for a starter. Craig had the Corned beef & piccalilli which he said was very good. I did try a bit and I agree it was very good. It looked great on the plate as did most of the food we had over the weekend.
We had ordered some bread to nibble on while we were waiting for the starters but unfortunately it didn’t arrive until we had asked for it a couple of times. It finally arrived after the starter plates had been cleared. The bread tasted lovely but I’m not convinced it was 100% fresh. I suspect it was from lunchtime earlier in the day.
Next we were given a surprise course of raspberry foam. I thought it was odd to be given something sweet at this stage however once I tried it I didn’t care; it was amazing. Floating on the top of the foam was popping candy. I haven’t had this for years and it was a real surprise. I think this was one of the highlights of the food all weekend for me.
This was cleared away and after what was an extremely long wait our main courses arrived. I had the Essex bird free range not so Coq au Vin. This was basically a deconstructed coq au vin. It was alright but could have been much better. Unfortunately both main courses were luke warm and mine needed a lot of extra seasoning to give it flavour. It did look good on the plate though. Craig had the Pork belly with aspails cider sauce, sauerkraut, smoked raisins, bacon croquettes and broad beans. He enjoyed this and had no complaints other than it could have been hotter. To go with the meal we ordered a side order of vegetables and potatoes. To be honest these were awful. Both the baby carrots and the halved new potatoes in the dish was dried out and shrivelled up. I think they had been sitting under a heat lamp for some time. They tasted ok but looked awful.
After the main course we ordered dessert. I had the champagne jelly with strawberry sorbet and pistachio cake. This again was beautiful and tasted delicious. The bubbles in the jelly fizzed in your mouth when I pressed my tongue against the roof of my mouth (the child in me came out). It was great to have a completely dairy free (not including the pistachio cake) choice on the dessert menu which is something that doesn’t happen to often. My only niggle was the dessert was served on a piece of slate which was lovely except that when the sorbet started melting it started to slide off. As the waitress put it down in front of me I had to stop her pushing it back on with her fingers! Craig had the cheese plate which was accompanied by pickled walnuts, quince paste and 2 types of chutney and crackers.
After dinner was over we were both to tired and chilled out to stay up so we headed back to our room to bed. The bed was super comfy and huge and the duvet was so soft I wanted to bring it home. I mostly slept like a log although I did get really hot in the night and I had to open the balcony door wide to cool down.
On the second day we decided to get up early to go for a run in the grounds before our playtime gym session. So the alarm went of and we were up, dressed and out at 6.30am. run completed we arrived in the gym to meet Shelly for our session. As well as Craig and I there were 4 other people doing the session. During the next half an hour we played a variety of fun games and did some circuits both in the gym and in the outdoor area. It was one of the best training sessions I have had and wish I lived nearer as I would become a gym member here. The gym is very bright and cheerful and full of good handheld equipment. They do not have any “weights machines” which I think is a good thing. Instead there are kettle belle, ViPR’s, TRX ropes, cones, dumbbells, Swiss balls and many others I don’t remember. Shelly, on of the gym staff was really good to work with and highly motivated. We also met another gym instructor who had the same energy. After half an hour I was shattered and ready for my breakfast.
So after a quick shower and change into our robes we headed down to breakfast. We were seated and given menus and our tea & coffee order was taken. We both ordered the full English with poached eggs. While we waited for that we went up to the buffet for some juice. There was a choice of 5 juices including pink grapefruit which I had and really enjoyed. There was a selection of fresh, dried and poached fruits, cereals’, meats and cheeses and pastries. White and brown bread was available to toast yourself when you were ready. Our cooked food arrived and it was all very good. The egg was perfectly poached and the sausage was really tasty and very good quality. It was all very fresh and lovely and hot. Other hot dishes on the menu were smoked salmon & scrambled eggs, American pancakes & maple syrup, porridge and kippers.
Breakfast over and we went to the pool to read the paper while our food went down. When we were ready we got back into the Jacuzzi for a bubble. I felt something hard and sharp under my foot and when I reached down I pulled out of the water one of the metal covers which had cover away and corroded. It crumbled a bit in my hand and I could still feel parts of the metal under my foot. I put my robe back on and took the metal piece through to the reception. To be fair action was taken straight away. The Jacuzzi was temporarily shut while one of the staff got in armed with goggles and a net to clear out the debris. To be honest if I hadn’t have been so shocked and cross at the time I would have found this scene very funny. Especially as there was the lady from reception standing guard in her high heels to stop anyone using the Jacuzzi.
Drama over and another swim and a bit more relaxing and it was time to check out of the room by 11am. You don’t have to leave the resort yet but they do ask that you leave your room on time and put your bags in either a day locker or with reception. By the time we had done this and read a few more magazines while sitting in deck chairs on the lawn it was nearly lunchtime.
Lunch was a 2 course affair this time. To start I had the chicken liver parfait, beetroot jelly, honeyed walnuts and gingerbread. Wow, what a great dish. I have no idea how the chef got the beetroot jelly around the parfait, it was very clever. The parfait was really smooth and delicately flavoured. Craig had the Oxford Blue Welsh rarebit with grape chutney. He said this was ok but not very cheesy and a bit dry.
For our main course we both had Dedham
After lunch we went back to the pool for an hour where I promptly fell asleep. A sign of being contented and relaxed which is just what you should be after 24 hours at a spa.
So overall we both very much enjoyed our stay at Lifehouse Spa. Yes there were a few niggles but nothing that can’t be fixed. With a bit more staff training and attention to detail all of the niggles I had could be avoided. It’s a lovely spa and we both felt very relaxed. The bedrooms are very good and the food is brilliant. The staff were all extremely friendly and the gym facilities excellent. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Lifehouse to my friends for either a day spa or an overnight stay. I hope to go back later in the year with my sister in law for a treat when she has had her baby.
Sharon x
Hello Sharon. I'm hoping to read some of your ideas for Perth. Maybe we'll pop down to Essex for a bit of pampering when we get to the UK. The food sounds a bit variable but pampering is always welcome.
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