A day of indulgence…
As any parent will know, it’s very rare to get a day that feels all about you. But sometimes you’re in desperate need of one. We were lucky enough to be gifted such a rare treat this weekend, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. For 24 hallowed hours, we were able to worry about nothing more than each other – no baby to feed, amuse, change, rock to sleep, take for a walk, put in the bath etc etc. It was several shades of bliss.
We dropped Munchkin at her Grannie’s house, and headed out for a frosty run – the grass crunchy underfoot, the air bitingly cold and crisp…
Red-cheeked and awakened we headed off to Barnsley House, a very grown-up spot for a weekend away (no children under 14 yrs old – hurrah), and made sure we did lots of un-baby friendly things.
A very long lunch in front of the fire at The Village Pub…lingering well after we’d finished our food to finish our bottle of wine….
…Followed by an incredible two hour languish in the hydrotherapy pool…
…complete with a bottle – yes, a bottle – of Champagne….
Just as it would have been ‘bath-and-bed’ time I dragged myself out of the pool, away from the setting sun, for an hour long aromatherapy massage that left me so blissed out I could barely open my eyes…
…before pottering back through the lantern-lit garden to our Stableyard Room (of which I took no pictures because I was (as above) half-asleep. We crashed out for an hour or so, before rallying and sloping off to the bar for a cocktail…
…followed by dinner, and then bed, flopping gratefully into the biggest, softest, whitest bed. Sleep was inevitable.
We woke at 9am, lulled into life by moo-ing cows, and had bacon sandwiches and coffee in bed, before another soak and steam at the spa…
…and a walk around the gardens…
…before heading home to a quiet house and a couple of hours more peace and quiet.
Barnsley House was the perfect place to escape life for 24 hours and the spa especially was a great space to forget everything for a time. The outdoor hydrotherapy pool is situated in the gardens, and with a view over the fields as the sun sets there is honestly nowhere better to sit quietly and think about nothing. The spa itself isn’t very big, but that is really the beauty of this place – it felt intimate, exclusive, quiet. The treatment rooms and relaxations spaces are soothing spots which I could easily have curled up in for hours, while trawling through magazines. Treatments themselves use Aromatherapy Associates products, and are all geared to holistic and whole body rejuvenation. My Inner Strength massage and facial left me feeling soothed, calmed and very relaxed.
The rooms at Barnsley vary a fair bit in size but are all beautifully designed. We were given a Stableyard Suite, and it was a great, spacious spot, with a split-level sitting room upstairs and a huge bathtub at the end of the bed. For food, I’d personally recommend popping over the road to The Village Pub – ask for the table with armchairs in front of the log fire and settle in for the night with a bottle of some vin rouge. Heaven.
A Wild Life in Words 