We were greeted by friendly staff who showed us to a seat and fetched an elderflower spritzer for each of us. The presentation was lovely - jam jar drinks, pink straw, slice of lemon and then mint to decorate - served on a wooden plate. I'd never had an elderflower drink before, but I came to the conclusion that I did in fact like it (took a few sips to figure that one out) After we finished these, we headed upstairs to the changing rooms.
As it was quite a small leisure centre, there was only one small room to change in and two showers, but luckily there weren't many other people around. Opening our designated lockers, we were met with a white robe, slippers, bottled water, two towels and a complimentary sample of face cream. Nice touch. Heading down stairs and into the pool, we found that there wasn't many places to sit - it was still the morning and people who stayed in the hotel could use the facilities up until a certain time (kids everywhere) so, we hung our robes up and stayed either in the Jacuzzi, steam room or sauna - not complaining about that! After everyone left, it was bliss. Extremely quiet with no screaming children in the pool (they weren't allowed in the other areas) so after lunch, we sat and read our magazines/books to relax some more.
For lunch, as it was busy at the time, we were seated on a table outside. The waiters look after you so much more if you were paying for the leisure day and not just coming from the hotel - which was nice. I ordered the bacon and cheese panini, chips and a side of garlic bread - it came with crisps and a salad, also. To make matters better, we only got charged for the panini and not the sides and drink! Winner. As we sat reading our books after lunch, I got called up to have my back massage. The woman was lovely and had such a calming, soft voice. It was my first experience in receiving a professional back massage and I loved it (would happily have them every week) The music was playing gently in the background and she began to start the procedure. First, it was a back scrub which was then wiped off to be covered in oil to massage. After, there was a back mask (face mask basically, for your back) which was wiped off with a hot towel. But whilst it was on, she gave a heavenly scalp massage - which turned my hair into a mane! I loved it.
After all of us received the procedure, it was time to get changed and ready for our afternoon tea. So, we paid - the day should have been £39.95, but with lunch was £45 each. Bargain! We were lead into the hotels dining area and greeted with a tier of sandwiches, cakes and scones with strawberry jam - and of course, two huge mugs of tea! Unfortunately, we couldn't finish it all, but there was such a huge variety to choose from and well worth the money.
I would highly recommend visiting here again, just not when the kids are off school making it noisy in the mornings.
