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Lygon Arms, Broadway - 3 bubbles
Sybaritic Spy was invited to the Cotswolds to experience the Lygon Arms. She was delighted by the historical hotel, but found the spa didn't quite reach the same superb standards.
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?
What happens afterwards?
Long-term effects
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?
Was it easy to book?
We were invited here so I didn't have to book but people seemed to be arriving and checking in at the hotel without difficulty, and my spa treatment occurred exactly as planned.
First impressions?
A lovely, historical hotel in a lovely, historical village. The 16th-century Lygon Arms is literally part and parcel of history. It stands on the High Street of Broadway ("England's prettiest village"), with tendrils of ivy creeping over its mellow, yellow Cotswold Stone. The main entrance opens satisfyingly onto a reception area of beams and wood panelling and - in the winter - the tang of a log fire. It's a warren of wood-panelled corridors, twisty staircases, a grand "Great Hall" with stag heads on the walls (this turns out to be a Michelin-starred restaurant), and a succession of rooms with log fires, tea, gin and tonics...
Sometimes the ancient and the modern dwell in very close proximity. One moment I was in the room where Cromwell is reputed to have slept the night before the battle of Worcester in 1651, then I turned a corner and found myself gazing at a super-stylish swimming pool. I wondered whether this was where Cromwell did his morning laps before the battle.
How did they welcome you?
Bravely. I arrived just as the heavens opened. The wind was actually rocking the car as I fished around in the boot for my suitcase. A rather smart young man in a morning suit appeared with an umbrella, took my keys, and sent me off inside to keep dry while he sorted the cases and parked the car. Brilliant.
What happens next?
I was checked in straight away. When I mentioned that my husband would be arriving by train, they arranged to send a taxi to meet him.
When you arrive at the hotel, you can hop off to the swimming pool, just sit and enjoy your tea, play tennis, go to the fitness studio, admire the two acres of formal hotel gardens, order up a DVD from Reception, tramp off for a country walk - wellies and Barbours thoughtfully provided in case the weather is inclement - or just walk along Broadway's picturesque High Street.
The spa is off the hotel courtyard. There's a small reception area where you can pick up towels, and the changing rooms are beyond that. There's a staircase to the left of the reception desk that leads up to the first floor where the treatment rooms are. Through another door, you reach the main pool building.
The pool is a reasonable size at 14.7 metres, and there's a separate Jacuzzi, big enough to fit eight or so people. The sides of the pool are too narrow to accommodate loungers, although there are four at the top end. Four loungers isn't exactly enough to accommodate, er, more than four people, and so there is no sense of people relaxing and chilling out.
The Jacuzzi was hot and, when I switched the bubbles on, very powerful, one of the most relaxing I have ever been in. I also liked the steam room as it was a reasonable size with marble seats, although it could have been hotter. The steam room is mixed but there are also small saunas in each of the changing rooms if you prefer single-sex warming up, and a plunge pool for cooling off.
There is a small fitness studio in the spa. There are running machines, cross-trainers and bikes, a mat and two Swiss balls, and some weights and resistance machines. You can borrow a set of headphones and run while you watch satellite TV should you wish. There is also a timetable of classes pinned up on the notice board. Outside, you can play tennis or croquet.
Which treatments did you have?
I had the Lygon Experience, a lovely back massage and facial combined. The body massage glides into a Dermalogica facial, and while your moisturiser moisturises, you get the scalp, arms and hands part of the massage.
What were the treatments like?
Good, relaxing, and well done in a nice spacious room.
How did you feel afterwards?
Relaxed and very clean.
What happens afterwards?
My therapist escorted me to the relaxation area and offered me a glass of water, herbal tea or juice.
The relaxation area overlooks the pool so it nice and light and airy, with soft chairs and newspapers, but you wouldn't want to unwind and fall asleep there.
Long-term effects
The stay was great: renewing and relaxing at the same time, but that was caused as much by the great food, lovely hotel, excellent customer service and the setting as by the spa. They say that the hotel has "over 470 years of experience in hospitality" so they've obviously absorbed some fine lessons in customer service along the way.
Was it worth it?
Yes if you like good food. No if you really want a special spa experience.
What else could you have?
The Lygon Arms offers body and facial treatments, along with Jessica Nails manicures and pedicures and a small range of spa days.
What do you wish you'd known before you went?
Stay in one of the rooms in the main hotel as you can actually reach the spa via a first-floor bridge and then you don't need to go out at all.
Children of hotel guests can only use the pool between 9am and 5pm, so you can enjoy an adult-only splash after that.
Any special features?
The swimming pool is in a double-height building with a balcony around the upper floor; it looks and feels rather like a Roman bath.
There are some unique rooms in the hotel, including the Charles I suite, where the king met his cavalier supporters in 1645, and which you can reach via a secret staircase. There's also the room where the original door number keeps mysteriously resurfacing through the paintwork, no matter how many times they cover it up...You just knew it had to be the number 13, didn't you?
There are modern rooms in the Orchard Wing, if you prefer plasma screens and Bose CD/radios to ghostly goings-on.
If you're travelling on your own and don't feel that you want to eat alone in a great hall with a minstrel's gallery, a waiter will bring the a la carte menu of the day to your room so you can choose. That's pretty special!
Who do you think would like it?
The Lygon Arms is above all romantic: beams, log fires in the winter, patio gardens in the summer, the Cotswolds to walk in, so this must be a choice for couples. Breakfast goes on until 10.30am in the great hall, so you can lie in quite late before popping down for your porridge and poached eggs then mooching around reading the newspapers.
There are also some very well equipped meeting, conferencing and private dining rooms, so if you wanted to set up a business day, this would be a great place to bring the team.
Single spa-goers? No.
Why did you give the spa this rating?
I gave the Lygon Arms five stars as a hotel but 3 bubbles as a spa. The pool and Jacuzzi are lovely and my treatment was good. The robes are soft and fluffy and the changing rooms small, but improved with the addition of a large wall mirror, a couple of soft seats and two hairdryers. Nice body lotion on tap, as well.
But the showers had spots of mould on them and some areas of the spa, notably the doors upstairs, needed a lick of paint. The upstairs seating area is nice but under utilised. I expected the juice bar to have a juicing machine and bowls of fresh fruit, but it had a cooler and cartons of pasteurised juice. It didn't make you want to linger, really, which is a great shame as the Lygon Arms generally is a lingering sort of place. You can sit by an open fire having afternoon tea, or laze in the bar with a glass of something sparkling, or, as we did, do a quick circuit of the lovely village before breakfast and really enjoy your time there.
Wherever I went in the hotel, people were happy to help, positively offering to help, and I loved the way they had managed to combine the historical fabric of the building with a modern attitude to customer service.
The spa suffers from a lack of a central focus, somewhere people can rest, chat and chill out, both before and after their treatments. Without this, it is just a hotel pool with some treatment rooms attached.
See more on how we rate the spas
Would you go again?
To the hotel, like a shot. But I wouldn't rush to book a treatment in the spa, which is a shame. A little more in the way of luxury in the spa would have made all the difference.
We visited the Lygon Arms in November 2007
Like the sound of this? You're in luck.
Follow this link to book a special spa offer at the Lygon Arms with our partners lastminute.com
See also:
* Contact Details for Lygon Arms
* Can I have complementary therapies at a spa?
* I am disabled. Are there any spas that can accommodate me?
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