Ragdale Hall – health, hydro and thermal spa

I went to Ragdale for a weekend about a month ago and I absolutely loved my stay it was super relaxing and revitalising. Radale hall is a beautiful and historic building that has actually been around since the 1700’s in the countryside of Leicestershire. It has been known to be one of the best spa’s in the country and I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. When we arrived there was a valet to park our car and staff to assign us to our rooms and to take up our luggage. First we went to the conservatory to fill out some forms and we got a complimentary fruit punch. Then we went to our rooms and got ready to go to the spa. The spa area has been designed for Ragdale Hall and can’t be found anywhere else in the world. There are 12 luxurious and unique heat and water experiences including the candle pool which you have to walk down to, it is a warm and cosy little cave like area which is a great area to have a silent retreat to and it has beautiful twinkly lights. There is an outdoor heated pool which has a waterfall and massage jets which really help to soothe your shoulders and back, it was raining when my friend and I went out there and it was a very unique experience as the rain was cold and pouring down on your head and yet the rest of your body is warm from the pool. There is the thought zone which wasn’t working when we went, as they were experiencing some problems but it wasn’t really of much interest to me anyway; it is supposed to project calming images designed to help you to reflect. There is a colourflow cave which is a steam room and has a lovely scent of jasmine and camomile and a ‘river of colour flows to a central crystal mountain’. There is a scented room which was one of my favourites and as the name suggests there was a lovely scent of lavender which was so relaxing. There is a rose sauna and also a cave shower which was really fun as it had sound effects of thunder and lightning and different water settings such as mist and rainfall. After this we got changed and went for lunch which was a buffet and there was a lovely selection of food and yummy chocolate mousse desserts! We signed up to go to the sunset stretch class before dinner which was a mix of yoga and Pilates and was thoroughly relaxing that I could just fall asleep right there and then. Dinner was wonderful I had pea soup for starter, the duck for main and marmalade on toast ice cream for dessert which tasted amazing. We went for a stroll in the gardens after dinner and went on one of the seat swings while watching others play golf. Then we borrowed some dvd’s from the reception and they had a list of some of the best rom-com movies. We watched Chalet girl which is one of my favourites so I was pleased, and then went to bed. The next morning we had breakfast in bed which was great as we don’t usually have that luxury at home and it was like a little breakfast feast, there was a variety of breakfast items to choose from and it was really fun picking them out, I ended up having Weetabix, a delicious muffin, a banana, orange and mango smoothie and a cup of tea. I ended up saving the banana for later as I was absolutely full. That afternoon we had our treatments. They have a wide range of new, holistic, and traditional spa treatments. I had a facial which I loved, it consisted of Spa Find products which are a top spa brand and is really good quality. You could also purchase them in the beauty shop which also stocks brands such as: Clarins, Decleor, Elemis, OPI Nailcare, Susan Posnick, Dior, Bline, Nougat, Neom and Fake Bake. There is also a lovely boutique and my mum purchased some ‘fitflops’ which she was very happy about, other ranges available include: Fransa, Oui, Steillman, Redfoot shoes, Bugatti Jewellery. They also have an adorable gift shop which is where I bought a little sign saying ‘if the shoe fits buy it in every colour’ I thought this was really cute. We had tea in the veranda bar and I had also had a chocolate orange cupcake. I love seeing all the healthy options in Spa’s but Ragdale prides itself on not only being a relaxing retreat but a healthy one too, they have gluten-free, dairy free and vegan options and they also have an impressive gym and exercise pool. Their dinner menu also has little windows to represent how many calories were in each dish, I thought this was a very informative yet innovative touch to the menu. We had a last swim in one of the 5 swimming pools! Packed our belongings and went home. I had an absolutely amazing time and cant wait to visit once again!