FORCE of nature

The quintessentially English gardens are an integral part of the spa journey at the luxury Elan Spa at Mallory Court Hotel, so creating an outdoor thermal area that blended seamlessly into the grounds was an important aspect of the design of the spa, which opened in 2017.

Part of the Elan Spas group, within the Eden Hotel collection, Mallory Court’s spa is the only one within the group that has been built from scratch, providing the team with a blank canvas. To help the spa achieve its vision, the managers called upon the expertise of UK swimming pool, spa and thermal specialist Rigo Spa.

The spa is in a standalone building spanning three floors and housing 12 spa bedrooms, its own restaurant, a gym and seven treatment rooms, plus a host of thermal facilities which occupy the whole of the ground floor.

The indoor thermal suite comprises a hydro pool, salt sauna, steam room and rasul mud chamber. A natural extension of this, situated on the outdoor sun spa terrace, is a vitality pool and a glass-fronted sauna, which allows guests to gaze out over the Warwickshire countryside.

“We are famous for our gardens and, wherever we can, try to bring them into the spa, using the vegetables and the fruits in the spa café, for example. We have also created wellness walks that direct guests into the grounds,” says Mary Smith, group spa manager. “We didn’t want the spa area to be contained inside four walls, and Rigo Spa has a strong grasp on trends in the wellness market so really understood our vision of bringing the outdoors into the spa space.”

Smith’s decision to work with Rigo Spa came at the drawing-board stage after she viewed the company’s work in other spas. “We really wanted a rasul mud chamber and we loved the one we’d seen created by them,” she adds. “They were heavily involved in the plant room design too and offer a great maintenance and aftercare service. They came in and did all the training with our staff.”

Private Space

Since the spa opened, Smith says her main strategy has been to concentrate on raising its profile to attract non-hotel guests. “Our USP is that we’re a destination spa with a standalone building so you can come for a true spa getaway. Guests can arrive, change into a robe and never have to get dressed or leave the spa area if they don’t want to.”

The spa has already scooped some awards since opening, and the group even launched its own spa academy in September 2018, celebrating its first set of graduates this year. “It’s the first of its kind in the country,” says Smith. “All our brand product partners are sponsoring it.”

The spa has also evolved its treatment offer, and recently launched massage for cancer patients. “We’ve worked alongside The Amethyst Trust to design cancer recovery retreats as well. These launched in August and are already popular,” says Smith.

She believes the key to the spa’s future success is to ensure a broad offer in line with trends and client feedback, adding, “Having such wonderful thermal facilities is a big part of this and they have really enhanced the spa guest experience, especially the rasul.” PB