Woodland wellness

The latest Aqua Sana spa renovation at Elveden Forest is the brand’s biggest to date. Ellen Cummings gets the lowdown

Center Parcs’ Elveden Forest location in Suffolk has reopened its Aqua Sana spa following a £6.5 million redesign – the biggest refurbishment in Aqua Sana’s history.

The spa was fully closed for nine months to accommodate the construction work and has completely transformed into a multi-sensory forest escape, inspired by the world’s most extraordinary natural environments, from volcanos and hot springs to forest glades and mineral caves.

Elveden Forest is the latest Aqua Sana location to get a Forest Spa refurb, with the concept originally launching in Sherwood Forest in 2017, before being introduced gradually across other sites including Ireland’s Longford Forest in 2019, and Longleat Forest, Wiltshire, in 2020.

We speak to Kay Pennington, Aqua Sana’s group spa manager, about the group’s latest forest spa and the process and decisions behind the refurbishment.

Refurbishment goals

“The goal was to enhance our forest spa offering within a collection of six, and to amplify the fact that the forest spa concept is growing,” says Pennington.

“We had some investment that we chose to channel here because we wanted to bring the forest spa to another southern location. Most importantly, we wanted to innovate within the industry and be ahead of wellness trends.”

While the guests’ experience is paramount to the functionality of the spa, Pennington was keen to make it a personal journey. She explains, “We’re not trying to dictate how our guests should feel. Rather, we want them to immerse themselves in the sensory environment and become whatever it is they need to be. We want the guests to have their own journey, whether that be to relax, invigorate, detox, become mindful and in tune with themselves, or to be educated on products.

“We just provide the platform for the guests to be able to choose how they want to feel and get what they want out of the experience. That’s through sensory experiences, which is why this spa is the most sensory out of all of them – this goes back to our strapline ‘you see it, you hear it, you feel it’.”

Inspired by nature

Interestingly, the footprint of the spa hasn’t actually changed, but the design is markedly different. “We stripped it back to the carcass then recalibrated and designed a brand-new version of the spa with nine new experiences, extra hot tubs, a Scandinavian snug and access to spa gardens. We’ve really utilised the space. Whereas before we had a lot of bricks and mortar, now we’ve gone for glass and natural light; we’ve opened it up and zoned off our experiences to provide more capacity,” comments Pennington.

Neil Fairplay, director at Sparcstudio, who worked on the design, adds, “Each thermal forest zone is inspired by a different geological and geographical location, from cold Nordic forests and Japanese Onsen-inspired hot springs to a volcanic forest, and they’re all designed to encourage spa guests to enjoy a different experience each time they visit.

“The ground floor houses the majority of thermal experiences, with sole therapy foot bathing at the entrance, a large outdoor forest bathing pool in the central double-height space, a Japanese tranquility garden with hot tubs, and a Nordic garden with a snug room.

“The first floor is focused on rest, meditation, sleep, relaxation and treetop views and vistas of the forest. The materials palette is inspired by nature, incorporating river pebbles, timber floors and tree trunk screens.”

Updated offerings

The spa’s treatment and experience offerings have also had a revamp to match the forest spa theme. Pennington explains, “The previous offerings were under the ‘world of spa’ concept, so it was very traditional. We had a Turkish hammam, a laconium, a dry float – lots of the traditional experiences, which we had enhanced. Now we’re steering towards more sights and sounds; more sensory.

“We already had some of the new offerings in our other locations, and guest feedback showed that they loved the experiences and wanted them again, but we also wanted to create some newness, maybe something nobody had ever seen in the UK before.

“So, the nest is a good example of where we thought about what ‘forest spa’ really means to us. This is where we came up with the idea of capturing the trees at the back with the beautiful scene that you get; untouched, cocooned, feeling safe, with the reclining sauna.”

The spa’s therapists were also very involved in the design of the forest spa concept, with all 56 of them coming together to craft a new treatment protocol – the Tree of Life Ritual. “The therapists come from different backgrounds, so some are lomi lomi massage experts, some are specialists in reflexology, and so on,” says Pennington. “We got all of them together and said, ‘If we could design an absolute melt-in-the-moment, stressalleviating treatment, what would it look like?’

“We did workshops and Julie Flatman, our spa training coordinator, pulled it all together and created a protocol that combines different massage techniques, crystal healing and our Aqua Sana Natural Glow facial range.” This latest edition of Aqua Sana’s forest spa offers guests the chance to experience an immersive, holistic experience, with the ability to craft their own journey. Pennington concludes, “We open our doors to people from all walks of life, so it’s not just for spa aficionados. We want to extend the gift of wellness to as many people as possible.”