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Sensitive Spy went down to Dorset to discover a relaxing retreat, where both the face masks and food are organic and home-made. She left revitalised, recharged, and is still talking about the amazing stone therapy.
Was it easy to book?
First impressions?
How did they welcome you?
What happens next?
Which treatments did you have?
What were the treatments like?
How did you feel afterwards?
Long-term effects
Was it worth it?
What else could you have?
Any special features?
Who do you think would like it?
Why did you give the spa this rating?
Would you go again?
Was it easy to book?
Very easy. They emailed me directions, and also the names and numbers of local taxi firms as I was getting the train and needed to catch a taxi from Sherborne station.
First impressions?
After taxi-ing through miles of pretty Dorset countryside and twisty lanes with no names, we turned off down a tiny lane with grass growing up the middle of it. At the end of it was Middle Piccadilly: a beautiful old thatched cottage, with rambling grounds, and huge apple and pear trees.
How did they welcome you?
Dominic, the owner, heard the taxi arrive. He came straight out of the office, picked up my bags, and showed me to my room. It was a warm welcome.
What happens next?
They gave me the choice of two bedrooms, and a quick tour of the retreat. After my tour, I was informed that Lisa, Dominic's wife, co-owner of Middle Piccadilly and therapist, would find me before dinner to arrange my treatment schedule for the weekend.
The guest accommodation and spa treatment rooms at Middle Piccadilly are housed in two L-shaped converted cow stalls and stables, centred around a courtyard. The aforementioned thatched cottage is mostly private family accommodation but is home to the retreat's wonderful farmhouse kitchen where guests have all of their meals.
The building I was staying in housed two bedrooms, with a shared bathroom, a treatment room, and the relaxation room.
The relaxation room: A large, homely lounge with comfy sofas, rocking chairs, and an open fireplace. Brass knick-knacks, vases, paintings and old maps made for a cosy, farmhouse-living-room feel. You could play Scrabble, chess and marble solitaire should you feel so inclined.
The bedrooms: One bedroom was warm-looking, with wooden cladding, a sloping ceiling and African textiles on the walls. The other was white and bright with tapestry cushions on the bed, and a white voile canopy. I preferred the warm-looking one but, as its door opened directly into the relaxation room, I plumped for the other. Maybe it was a fear of too many late-night raucous games of marble solitaire disturbing my beauty sleep.
The accommodation is simple. The B and B-style rooms are spotlessly clean, and my bed was very comfy with plenty of pillows and cushions. There was a good selection of magazines in a wicker basket (Marie Claire, Psychologies, Hello!, The Puzzler: perfect for a post-massage sudoku).
I settled down with my medical form and a good book and waited for Lisa. The medical form was way above the usual "Do you have any allergies?" status of the standard spa medical form. It included questions about past and present emotional problems, relationships with my parents, spouse and children, and reasons for coming to the retreat.
Shortly before dinner, Lisa arrived and ran through the different therapies and spa treatments available at Middle Piccadilly. As I'd said on the form that I wanted to relax and recharge, she picked out a few suggested treatments for me and made me a timetable for the weekend.
The kitchen and food: Then it was dinnertime in the farmhouse kitchen. Dark, warm, and furnished with antique hand-made oak cupboards, the kitchen felt like the heart of the retreat. Meals are at set times at Middle Piccadilly, and taken communally round a huge wooden table. The lunches and dinners are hand-cooked from scratch by Dominic, who is a very talented cook. Fellow guests were wondering if they could take him home with them.
Dinners included a wonderfully light nut and vegetable rissole stack with gravy, and a tomato chilli, both with fresh vegetables and potatoes, followed by home-made apple crumble, prune puree or spiced poached pears. Lunches were bowls of hot, home-made soup and a variety of salads. Breakfasts were a buffet of cereals, thick brown bread with spreads, fresh fruit and yogurt. The food is entirely vegetarian, very plentiful and all absolutely delicious. You help yourself from big, generous bowls on the table. You certainly won't go hungry here.
Which treatments did you have?
La Stone therapy, an Organic Fresh Fruit Facial, a Thai Soak and Reflexology.
What were the treatments like?
Middle Piccadilly has two treatment rooms, and a bath spa room. The massage couches are navy blue, the walls are yellow, the towels are dark red and green, and there's Navajo throws over the tables and couches. The treatment rooms could do with a lick of paint and a bit of a makeover. Although very comfortable and clean, there are water marks and cracks on the walls and ceiling (just the sort of thing you notice when you're lying on your back for an hour having a facial).
La Stone therapy: This was a very, very creative hot stone massage. Lisa used both hot and cold stones, and a lovely Tui Orange Spice scented massage wax. She asked me beforehand how hot and how cold I would like the stones, as people have different tolerances and preferences. I asked for extremely hot, and very frozen indeed, as I love the contrast between the two in this massage. It was great to be asked.
Alongside the usual gorgeousness of running first very hot, then very cold, stones over my body, legs and arms, Lisa used hot and cold stones simultaneously. The combination of ice cold and really hot stones being run together in long strokes down my back was extraordinary. Your body doesn't know how to react and goes into free-fall. You just have to abandon yourself to the experience.
At one point in the massage, Lisa used two stones like chisels on my shoulders, holding one against the skin and using the other to tap. This felt amazing. I could feel the reverberations throughout my whole body.
At the end of the massage, as I lay slumped on the couch in total post-stone-massage bliss, Lisa used a crystal singing bowl to create the most incredible, pure sound. As I was so relaxed, the sound went right through me. It created oscillations in my head. As the sound faded, I could sort of feel my consciousness heading off into the void to follow the sound far away into the distance. Which, I am aware, sounds very odd in the retelling but that is what it felt like.
It was a great massage.
Organic Fresh Fruit Facial: Lisa was my therapist again for this treatment. She began by asking me about my skin type and I explained that I have quite sensitive combination skin. She explained that she would cleanse and exfoliate my skin to get a clearer idea of what my skin was up to, and then make me a personalised face mask based on her analysis. Everything used in the facial, from products to cotton wool and tissues, was organic.
Lisa cleansed my face with an organic Miessence cleanser, which smelt beautifully of orange peel and marshmallow, then exfoliated with organic oats. Lisa then declared that I did indeed have combination skin, but that part of my forehead was sensitive and dry. This was news to me. Lisa decided to make me a yogurt, banana and honey mask, which she whipped up on the spot from fresh ingredients in a mini blender. She applied it over a muslin sheet that she spread over my face and it felt deliciously cooling. After 10 minutes, Lisa removed the mask and applied a light Miessence lavender moisturiser.
Thai Soak: Not so much a treatment, more of a posh bath. Words cannot explain the simple pleasure of being led to a delightful bath house one evening to discover that a beautifully scented bath has been run for you and that you can wallow in a fragrant pool of lemongrass-scented water to your heart's content. After 20 minutes of bobbing around in the company of some new age music and a sort of revolving disco crystal on a shelf (which hypnotically changed colour every minute or so), I was more than ready for bed.
Reflexology: I'd decided to have a reflexology session as there's a place on my foot that is incredibly painful when I have a foot massage. Reflexology works on the principle that there are pressure points on your feet that correspond to all the other parts of your body. By massaging these points, the therapist can detect tension and imbalance in the body and heal these problems. I was intrigued to find out what part of my body this painful spot corresponded to.
My therapist, Rhiannon, asked me to envisage each area of my body in turn and to let her know if I felt any pain or tender areas.
All was well until she reached the sensitive spot in the middle of my foot and I nearly shot off the couch. It turned out that this point corresponded to my solar plexus region. Without boring you rigid with my forays into alternative health therapies, I had been working on this area of the body with my homeopath, and I was amazed that the reflexologist had picked this up.
Rhiannon didn't pick up on any other areas of tension and declared me a very healthy individual. Hurrah!
How did you feel afterwards?
Very, very relaxed and pampered. After the massage, all I was good for was crawling back to bed for a three-hour afternoon kip.
Long-term effects
I left Middle Piccadilly feeling great: very focused, relaxed and ready to face the world again. And very well fed. Three weeks on, I still felt that way. Only less well fed.
Was it worth it?
Very much so.
What else could you have?
There's a wide range of interesting therapies and treatments on offer at Middle Piccadilly. You can have Shamanic Healing, Manual Lymph Drainage massage, an Ayurveda consultation, one-on-one yoga tuition, acupressure and much more. There's a Cryssage Facial, which uses the healing properties of colour and crystals, and Subtle Energetics: a form of bodywork to stimulate the flow of "micromovements" within the body.
Any special features?
There's a temple in the garden built on two ley lines with the biggest crystal you've ever seen rising out of the middle of the floor. You can meditate in there, and that's also where they hold the yoga classes.
Who do you think would like it?
Anybody who needs space to recover from their stressful life or work through personal issues. There are no newspapers, televisions or radios at Middle Piccadilly. Treatments and meals aside, you are left entirely to your own devices. There are plenty of lovely places to curl up with a good book in the grounds. You can write, meditate, or explore the pretty Dorset countryside. I stayed for two nights but I would recommend staying longer to get properly into the retreat's relaxing "eat-treatment-sleep" routine.
Why did you give the spa this rating?
I gave Middle Piccadilly 4 bubbles. The treatments and therapies are wonderful, but the treatment rooms themselves could do with a little TLC. The way that the buildings are laid out means you have to venture across the courtyard from bedroom to treatment room and back again. This is fine on a lovely sunny afternoon but less pleasant after a late night bath in the bath house when you're in your pyjamas. It does take the edge off that spa feeling.Middle Piccadilly also lacks a few small touches. The unbranded complimentary bubble bath and soap in my room didn't feel very spa, and the only drinks available in bedrooms and the relaxation room were standard tea and decaf coffee with UHT milk. You could go to the kitchen for herbal tea but it would have been nice to have it more freely available.
Niggles aside, Middle Piccadilly is a very peaceful, very nurturing retreat. From the home cooking, to the hand-made face masks, the place is full of simple pleasures served up with a lot of love and care. The therapists are fantastic: enthusiastic, supportive and well-informed. I came away with a lot of good advice.
Middle Piccadilly is not a place you would go to purely for the spa treatments. However, if you were looking for an unpretentious, friendly retreat with the bonus of delightful spa treats and spot-on therapies, you won't go wrong here.
See more on how we rate the spas
Would you go again?
I would love to go on one of their yoga and meditation weekends.
We visited Middle Piccadilly in September 2007.
See also:
* Details of Middle Piccadilly Spa Retreat
* I have high blood pressure, is it safe for me to have heat treatments?
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