Review of Carlyon Bay Hotel, St Austell

Carlyon Bay Hotel, St Austell - 4 bubbles

Carlyon Bay Hotel near St Austell is an impressive family hotel perched high on a Cornish cliff's edge. The small spa offers a heated outdoor pool, fabulous treatments, neat facilities, and very welcoming staff. Carlyon Bay's own aromatherapy blends will leave you content, calm, and care-free.

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?

What happens afterwards?

Was it worth it?

What else could you have?

What do you wish you'd known before you went?

Any special features?

Who do you think would like it?

Why did you give the spa this rating?

Would you go again?

First impressions?

Carlyon Bay Hotel, owned by the Brend family, is a medium-sized hotel on the edge of a cliff overlooking St Austell Bay. Around the hotel is an 18-hole golf course; landscaped gardens with manicured hedges, tennis courts, and a children's play area.

We pulled in to the car park directly in front of the painted grey and white hotel. The porter greeted us at the main entrance, relieved us of our bags, and took us to the reception desk. The interior was traditional and unintimidating.

How did they welcome you?

The staff were expecting us as we had been invited, welcomed us with a warm smile, and checked us in. We also chose and reserved a table in the Bay Restaurant for that evening, won over by the views out to sea. Peter, the charming hands-on manager of the hotel, came to meet us with a wish that we enjoy our stay. This genuine warm reception was consistent for all visitors.

What happens next?

My spa buddy and I climbed the sweeping flight of stairs by the reception, to get to our second-floor room, while the porter brought our bags via the lift. Our clean, twin room had dual aspect windows looking out to spectacular sea views. The room was well stocked with tea- and coffee-making facilities, two bottles of water, chocolates and biscuits, which were re-stocked every day.

As the day was sunny, we took the external spiral staircase that led down to the outdoor pool (where a few guests were basking on loungers in the sunshine) and to the spa's outer entrance. We walked alongside the indoor pool to the reception desk where the receptionist directed us to the female changing rooms. The cosy, clean and compact changing room contained just 10 lockers, although the room couldn't contain ten people if all turned up at once. There was one toilet, a bench, and a towel drop. The shower had some Gilchrist and Soames shower wash, but the bracket holding it had broken off the wall.

We headed straight outside to take advantage of the outdoor heated pool, swam some enjoyable lengths, and lay and read our books. The outdoor pool has 20 loungers around its edges, as well as a couple of white Formica table and chairs -- more functional than spa luxury.

Back inside, plenty more wicker tables, chairs and loungers surrounded the edge of the 1.5-metre deep pool. Large mirrors gave the illusion of a much larger space. You can help yourself from a plentiful supply of towels stocked up at one side.

The spa has three tepidarium loungers with a starry sky of lights above which slowly faded into each rainbow colour. The loungers were tepid but became warmer as we sat on them, on a cycle of heating and cooling.

Behind the loungers are a sauna and a steam room, with a necessary water machine nearby. The wooden sauna contained a plastic bucket with a wooden ladle to pour water over the coals, which made the sauna pleasantly hot. The sauna can sit four people very comfortably; you can look out through sizeable windows over the landscaped gardens, across the clifftop, and out to sea. The steam room was also nicely hot. Between the sauna and steam room are two experience showers with hot and cold settings and multiple jets from the ceiling.

A raised Jacuzzi by the pool could comfortably sit six people, and was positively bath-like. I admit I was shocked to see a child in the Jacuzzi, but there is a sign that says that children are allowed in at restricted times, if accompanied by their parents.

There is only one treatment room in the spa area. A room on the second floor of the hotel, originally used as the treatment room before the spa was developed, is now used as an overflow room, mainly for facials, manis and pedis.

Next to the spa treatment room was a small day-lit gym with a moderate range of equipment.

Which treatments did you have?

I had a Luxury Aromatherapy Back Face and Scalp Treatment (90 minutes, £70).

What were the treatments like?

Jill, the head therapist, collected me from the seating area and took me through to the spacious treatment room, decked out in neutral tones, with a treatment bed in the middle.

Jill has developed a range of her own aromatherapy blends to use in the Carlyon Bay spa treatments. To the right of the treatment bed was a trolley of Tisserand oils, as well as Jill's various blended oils. They use as many locally sourced ingredients as possible, including Cornish sea salt.

To begin, I put my feet into a bowl of sage-infused warm water which smelt beautiful. Jill explained that sage aided a balancing, calming energy. While I was soaking, we went through a lengthy consultation form -- all two sides of A4. Jill advised if there were any smells I didn't like to let her know, and explained what would happen in the treatment.

I then lay on my front, on a heated bed covered in white towels, my face resting on a support loop. Jill cleansed my back with a refreshing spearmint-and-lavender wash, then removed the cleanser with hot towels. She applied a body-oil blend, consisting of frankincense, bergamot and geranium, to my back. My parched skin completely soaked up the oil, requiring a further application.

Jill started the massage kneading around my coccyx and mid-way down my glutes, which felt phenomenal; an area of tension forgotten by many therapists. Jill worked along my spine all the way up to my neck and across my back, paying particular attention to my knotty shoulders, commenting on how tight they were. Jill took my arm, put it comfortably behind my back and worked into my shoulder blades. She massaged deeply in to my neck (again commenting on how tense I was), expertly elongated my neck, and worked a lot of pressure points.

I turned over on to my front and Jill continued the treatment with an aromatherapy facial which included my face, neck, and décolleté. Jill started with a gentle make-up remover and a clarifying cleanser in order to balance my problematic skin. The "balancing" facial oil blend contained frankincense, myrrh, orange and lemon. Pleasingly, there was further neck stretching, facial massage, and head manoeuvring.

At the end of my treatment, Jill gave me some after-care advice and recommended that I continue to use frankincense and myrrh for balancing myself emotionally.

How did you feel afterwards?

Zoned out. Content. Balanced.

After the treatment, Jill turned on the bright light (there was no dimmer switch), so I came around a bit quicker than I possibly wanted to (although I would have probably stayed hours longer, left to my own devices).

What happens afterwards?

There is no relaxation room at Carlyon Bay but the pool area was quiet enough for me to lie in a sated haze, gazing out to sea.

Options for dining include the Fusion restaurant, serving pan-Asian cuisine, or the formal Bay Restaurant, with fabulous views out to sea and across the bays. I had Cornish scallops with a crayfish terrine, followed by chicken breast with herb mousse and lemon-and-thyme emulsion. All of this tasty goodness was washed down with a large glass of Camel Valley Bacchus wine, recently awarded second best white wine in the world. Sadly, with all of this food to consume, we missed the piano player in the lounge... Next time.

Was it worth it?

The treatments at Carlyon Bay were very reasonably priced, although staying at the hotel can be quite pricey.

What else could you have?

There are over 40 treatments on offer at Carlyon Bay, including reflexology, aromatherapy, body wraps, sports massage, Indian head massage and Dr Hauschka treatments. Treatments for teens are also available.

What do you wish you'd known before you went?

That I'd want to extend my stay to experience a helicopter or boat excursion around this beautiful Cornish coast.

Children are allowed in to the spa area, but at restricted times. If you want some me-time away from the kids, there's a free, supervised nursery during the school holidays.

The golf course is free if you are a resident at the hotel.

Any special features?

The stunning location; the panoramic views of the clifftops and out to sea are simply magical.

Who do you think would like it?

Golfers, families, tourists. Locals who want to use the spa facilities.

Customers with helicopters can use the helipad in front of the hotel. The walls that lead to the spa have photos of the famous that have arrived at the hotel via this route, including Charles and Diana, Tom Jones, Ronnie Corbett, and Uri Geller (framed with a spoon he bent on site).

Why did you give the spa this rating?

We gave Carlyon Bay 4 bubbles. The two-year-old spa is well kept, the treatments are good, and the customer service was faultless from start to finish.

A few spa niggles, though. For the number of people that the spa at Carlyon Bay can hold, the changing rooms aren't quite big enough. Also, there is no separate relaxation room, so your spa experience is cut short. The treatment room in the main spa could do with some extra insulation because you can hear the internal door into the spa clunking shut, as well as the odd noise from the gym next door. Perhaps a scarf around the door-handles?

Speaking of door-handles, I particularly liked the fact that the door-handle to enter the spa was set high, so kids could not run in and out of the spa at free will.

See more on how we rate the spas