The Sunday Times 18 Aug 2013

14
travel
GET FIT
QUICK
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A year on from the
Olympics, how’s that
workout routine going?
Thought as much.
Luckily, Susan d’Arcy
has a healthy holiday
for everyone — in
Britain and beyond
thesundaytimes.co.uk/travel
FOR CYCLISTS AND RUNNERS
via Kuala Lumpur, transfers, two
consultations, three 60-minute
massages, three personal training
sessions and two guided challenges.
Rockliffe Hall, Co Durham
In 1996, Middlesbrough Football
Club bought a 375-acre park outside
Darlington and turned part of it into
a training ground. Some time later,
the club’s owners gave the estate’s
18th-century gothic hall a glamorous
makeover, and it has now become a
five-star destination spa, where up to
30 hours of free workouts are offered
weekly. Its fitness team includes Terri
Knight, a running specialist who can
analyse your gait and take you out for
a jog. And you can unwind in one of
Britain’s best thermal suites. The rooms
are cautiously modern, but the food and
the friendly service are premier league.
Details: doubles from £175, B&B;
personal training from £50 an hour;
01325 729999, rockliffehall.com.
Fitness 12 at La Manga, Spain
Having spent 15 years keeping
celebrities’ bodies red-carpet-ready,
the personal trainer Steve Halsall has
earned the nickname the Body
Whisperer. He is a keen cyclist and
runner, and his bespoke breaks at
La Manga sports resort in Murcia focus
on these key disciplines. Groups are
limited to 12, with three workouts every
day and plenty of downtime to enjoy
the pools and gym. There are also
regular inspirational talks about
healthy eating habits, as well as
protein-packed meals by Halsall’s
private chef.
Details: Electric Bloom (020 8442
1364, electricbloom.co.uk) has
three nights from £588pp,
including breakfasts and
lunches, all training
and flights from
Gatwick.
FOR RECOVERY
Grayshott, Surrey
Returning to full fitness after injury
or illness requires sensitive support,
so Grayshott spa, near Hindhead,
has devised a recuperation and
rehabilitation programme. A health
consultant will assess your needs
before you arrive and create a bespoke
package, drawing on a team that
features a variety of doctors,
physiotherapists, occupational
18.08.13 15
FOR TIGHT BUDGETS
From left: make your body a temple with
qigong at La Clairière or biking at Bad Ragaz,
or just have a long lie-in at Grayshott
Erik Isakson/Getty
therapists and personal trainers.
Grayshott is the grande dame of British
spas, so there’s more country swag than
city swagger about the place, and the
clientele tends to be on the mature side.
Details: four-night recuperation
package from £325pp, including three
consultations, two massages and
two spa treatments; doubles from
£165pp, full-board; 01428 602020,
grayshottspa.com.
Grand Resort Bad Ragaz,
Switzerland
It’s almost worth getting injured for
the chance to pull a blanket over your
knees and soak up the mountain views
from this resort, an hour from Zurich.
It is the first port of call for members of
the Swiss Olympic team suffering from
aches and pains, and there aren’t only
70 doctors and therapists — there’s also
an operating theatre. Skip the knife in
favour of the Kneipp pools, which are
filled with the resort’s healing spring
waters. Nutrition is key to the process
here, and as the Abtestube restaurant
holds a Michelin star, it’s also a treat.
It’s not a roll call of walking wounded,
however — many guests come for the
pampering Sisley beauty treatments
and palatial public areas.
Details: Healing Holidays (020 7843
3597, healingholidays.co.uk) has three
nights from £1,395pp, B&B, including
flights from London and a private
consultation with a doctor.
FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Yeotown, Devon
To lose weight, you don’t need to eat
less, you need to eat the right foods and
burn more calories. At Yeotown, a
nutritionist and a chef collaborate to
create delicious meals that keep you
sufficiently fuelled to cope with the
packed exercise schedule. Days can
include up to six hours of vinyasa
flow yoga (that’s the style that gave
Madonna muscles), walks along the
spectacular north Devon coast (closer
to jogs, in reality) and gym workouts
(the sort that don’t involve chatting
around the water fountain), as well as
kayaking and cycling. It’s not all hard
work: there’s a massage from one of
its excellent therapists each evening.
As one of the owners is a Chelsea art
dealer, accommodation is a cut above
the average. Fellow guests tend to be
high-achieving City types, and most
lose at least 2lb in a weekend.
Details: three-day Weekend Warrior
packages start at £1,250pp, including
all food and activities; 01271 343803,
yeotown.com.
Ti Sana Detox Retreat, Milan
As a rule, portmanteau words such as
“healtheatarian” make us feel queasy,
but Ti Sana’s programme is so good,
we’ll let it off. Work up a sweat three
times a day with hour-long power
walks, strength training, yoga and
rebounding (that’s exercising on a mini
trampoline). Then eat a “scientifically
based” menu of raw and cooked
vegetarian food. The spa has sweeps
of creamy stone, and the minimalist
bedrooms feature lots of glass and
wood. Guests can lose 2lb a day, so a
trip to a local fashion outlet is thrown
in for you to buy a new wardrobe for
the new you.
Details: Wellbeing Escapes (020 7644
6111, wellbeingescapes.com) has
the three-night Wellbeing Booster
package from £547pp, full-board,
including a 60-minute wellness
consultation, a 60-minute massage,
a 45-minute spa treatment, a private
yoga, t’ai chi or qigong class, daily
fitness classes and bike hire. Airlines
flying to Milan include easyJet,
Ryanair and BMI Regional.
FOR THE HOLISTIC APPROACH
Littleton Mill, Wiltshire
Fans of Littleton include Kate Moss,
Pixie Geldof and Nick Grimshaw. Its
cofounder Melissa Kendall is a former
investment analyst who retrained as a
nutritional adviser and moved to this
17th-century water mill to combine her
three passions: healthy eating, yoga
and sustainable living. Retreats are
limited to 12 people, and feature about
4½ hours of activities each day,
including circuits, kettlebell workouts,
yoga and meditation. Bedrooms are
comfortable and meals wholesome.
Details: five days starts at £550pp,
full-board, including classes; 01380
870728, littletonmill.co.uk.
Shreyas Retreat, India
A particularly picky, high-flying (ie,
rich) friend of mine is so serious about
yoga, he has an instructor come to his
house every morning. He usually
spends Christmas at Shreyas, outside
Bangalore, claiming the teaching is
so intuitive, it more than makes up
for missing the reruns of Morecambe &
Wise. The retreat offers two yoga
sessions and one meditation class daily.
There’s also the chance to help tend the
organic kitchen garden and visit local
schools, although lounging by the pool
is certainly not frowned upon. Founded
by a former investment banker, the
25-acre complex is simple and chic,
and rooms are uncluttered. Menus are
vegetarian, with continental and
Mexican cuisine, as well as curries,
but alcohol is banned.
Details: the Healthy Holiday Company
(020 8968 0501, thehealthyholiday
company.co.uk) has a week from
£1,750pp, full-board, including a
consultation, yoga and meditation.
FOR SPA LOVERS
Stobo Castle, Peeblesshire
The 80ft ozone-treated pool
has spectacular views over the
countryside, although those
views may blur a little when the
aqua-aerobics instructor gets going.
And should you tire of looking at the
Borders landscape, the gym’s Lifescape
feature lets you pretend you’re in
various exotic locations worldwide. Go
cycling, play tennis or relax in the
outdoor hot tubs or crystal steam room,
and try the loungers that give you an air
massage along the full length of your
body. The 50 rooms feature a judicious
use of tartan and checks, and the food is
health-inspired but not puritanical, so
it can be accompanied by a decent
bottle of wine.
Details: doubles from £218, full-board;
01721 725300, stobocastle.co.uk.
Como Shambhala Estate, Bali
The moss-covered minimalist villas
hidden within a mist-shrouded
rainforest valley in Ubud are instantly
relaxing. The complimentary exercise
schedule of up to six hours a day will
ping every muscle in your body back
into shape — try cross-training,
jungle gym circuits, rock-climbing
and cycling across rice paddies, as
well as yoga, Pilates and aqua therapy.
Afterwards, the Balinese therapists
await. They don’t merely understand
massage — it’s in their DNA, so
treatments are memorable. The estate
oozes good taste, the food is
fabulously healthy and wine is not
only allowed, it’s as perfectly chilled
as the ambience.
Details: Essential Escapes (020 7284
3344, essentialescapes.com) has seven
nights from £2,370pp, full-board,
including flights from Heathrow,
Ragdale Hall, Melton Mowbray
With 10 hours of free classes daily,
you can definitely get your money’s
worth here. And it’s not only the
humdrum combination of yoga and
Zumba either. Ragdale scores highly for
introducing cutting-edge routines such
as ballet barre workouts — the hottest
trend in New York right now — and
fun alternatives such as Bollywood
Dreams, which is something akin to
the dance finale in Slumdog Millionaire,
in theory. Facilities are far more
extensive than at spas that charge twice
as much, with indoor and outdoor
pools, a high-tech gym, tennis courts,
bikes and a huge thermal spa. Ragdale
attracts lots of groups of women, and
the ambience is homely and
unpretentious — as is the food, which
is accompanied by a short, reasonably
priced wine list.
Details: two nights from £355pp,
full-board, including a 50-minute
treatment; 01664 433000,
ragdalehall.co.uk
La Clairière, France
Surrounded by the soaring Scots pine,
alder, beach and oak trees of the Vosges
du Nord national park, in Alsace, this
family-run spa is perfect for alfresco
exercise. But it’s the staff that make
La Clairière exceptional value for
money. The therapists are excellent,
and provide the personal attention that
usually costs an arm and a leg. Dining
is another bonus — the kitchen is run
by Kai Mueller, formerly the executive
chef at Kamalaya, one of Asia’s top spas.
And as this is France, there’s almost
always meat on the menu, cheese on
the table (though not in the evening,
when it might interfere with sleep) and
plenty of organic wine. The chemicals
in the other stuff are what give you a
hangover, allegedly.
Details: Wellbeing Escapes (020
7644 6111, wellbeingescapes.com)
has the three-night Pure Relaxation
package from £469pp, full-board,
including a 60-minute massage, a
30-minute bath and two five-minute
oxygen-inhalation sessions. Ryanair
flies to Strasbourg.
Join Style’s Fit Not Thin campaign
on twitter: @TheSTStyle #fitnotthin
Stobo
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Rockliffe Hall
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Ragdale
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We go behind the
scenes on a healthy
holiday at the Rou
Estate in Corfu
thesundaytimes.co.uk/
travel
Littleton
ttleton Mill
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Yeotown
Grayshott
Gray
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