On the 9th of September I went to Yorkshire Spa Retreat with my friend Gemma. We had both seen this advertised and liked the idea of it, especially because it has a wild swimming pond, and we had booked to go way back in April or something. Gemma works in Kyiv but she comes home every six weeks or so. So we had booked it for one of her breaks. But then just the day before we got an email saying that the hot tub was broken. We decided that this was one of the big draws for the place, so we postponed the trip. We booked again for the 9th of September and made plans just before. Gemma had hired a car so offered to pick me up, and we made a booking for afternoon tea in Helmsley after the spa. Gemma arrived at mine at about 9.45 and we set off to North Yorkshire!
Lee and I had gone past the sign for the Yorkshire Spa Retreat when we went to the Verbena Spa in Helmsley in June, so I was expecting to go that way, but Gemma's sat nav took us a different way which had us drive through the Castle Howard grounds, which were beautiful. We arrived at the retreat at bang on 11.30, which was when our booking started. The retreat has the spa and then all lodges around it, that you can stay in, and it's in a really tranquil setting. We walked through to the spa and were briefly shown round before being shown the changing rooms to get changed. They were gender neutral and our lockers had our names on, with a robe, flip flops, and a water bottle inside. There were four changing cubicles, each with a shower in. Four didn't really seem like enough but we didn't have to wait or anything. I got changed and was pleased to find that the robe actually fitted me!
We headed outside and found two loungers together in the sunshine. They were lovely curved loungers and I would love one of them for home, to be honest! We sat chatting and soaked up some sun. There were QR codes on each coffee table where you could order food and drinks, so we ordered some nibbles and drinks. And now here's the first problem. I ordered all of it, for both of us, to say thank you to Gemma for driving us. I didn't put anything in the special instructions for the drinks, so when it all came, Gemma's drink wasn't exactly what she wanted. She said so, and the staff member really should have said 'Oh, not a problem, I'll just redo it'. Instead she had a proper attitude with us and said 'You should have written thaton the order!'. I said 'Oh that's my fault because I didn't know, I'm sorry' and she carried on having an attitude and even when she brought the drink back she was STILL on it. Gemma stood her ground and called out the attitude but it was a bit of a dampener on the situation.
We ate and drank and then got into the wild pool. This is the main draw of this spa but believe me when I say it is COLD. It was nineteen degrees which isn't many at all! Gemma went in first and sat on the edge which divides the swimming area from the truly wild area, and I followed her. The sun was shining so our top halves were warm but our bottom halves were NOT. We tried to acclimatise but it was too cold for me. We decided to brave it and walk to the other steps. The bottom of the pool is pretty slippery as it has lots of algae on it (which I get, because it's wild) so I basically skated to the other steps and got out. If you like wild swimming this could be much more up your street but it was a bit too cold for me.
We got out and went straight into the hot tub, which felt SO warm after the cold pool. It has seats and also loungers in it, so we stayed in there a good long while. Gemma then went into a couple of the hot rooms but I stayed in the hot tub a bit longer. Eventually I went into the steam room, which was malfunctioning a bit, and into the saunas, which weren't too hot for me. It was nice to keep wandering about between the rooms.
Eventually Gemma and I met up again and sat in the sunshine for a little bit longer. By this time it was 2.30 so our spa time was over, so we went back into the changing rooms. I had a shower and got dressed and we headed out to go into Helmsley.
Before I get to that I would say that the spa isn't really worth the money. Quite apart from the staff attitude, there just isn't a lot to do and you don't get very long there without spending a fortune. The wild pool was lovely and I'm glad I got to try it but I found it just too cold - colder than the sea I've been in recently - and the other stuff didn't make up for it. It was a bit generic? And the attitude of the staff member really didn't help. I could complain but I really can't be bothered.
Anyway! We went, we tried, we had a nice day. Then we went into Helmsley to go to the Faversham Arms. As a reminder, this is where Lee and I went to the spa on our anniversary in June, and it's a gorgeous spa and we really enjoyed it. I said to Gemma we'll have to go there one time. We booked the afternoon tea and got there about 3.30. We were taken into a room by the pool which was empty except for us, which didn't bother us too much. The afternoon tea was lovely!
I had ordered vegetarian sandwiches for me so I got four curried egg ones and two cheese and pickle ones, which were lovely. Then there were cheese scones too, and then fruit scones with clotted cream and jam. Then there was a massive selection of cakes, which we couldn't eat so we ended up bringing most of them home! I had decaf coffee in a lovely cafetiere. We finished eating about 4.30 so paid and set off home. Traffic actually wasn't too bad; Gemma dropped me off in Wakefield and then Lee came to pick me up! It was a good day together
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