Lifehouse Spa and Hotel 4.8 64 reviews

I think Lifehouse were short staffed as man gave me the facial, which took a bit of getting used to, but it was actually very good. My skin felt really soft and glowed marvellously afterwards. Would definitely have one again.

This was the best treatment ever! I'll often have a massage of manicure but had never had a facial - I so wish I'd had one sooner. This was so relaxing and my skin was bright and fresh afterwards. I felt completely rejuvenated. I would definitely have a facial at Lifehouse Spa again.

I visited Lifehouse with my Mother for a 2 night spring break which included breakfast each day and a 2 course dinner on one evening; also included was a 55 minute Espa facial and a salt body scrub.

On arrival the check-in procedure was quick and easy and we were shown to our room which was fantastic; clean, modern and bright with access direct to the gardens. The bathroom was spacious spotlessly clean and beautifully modern with a powerful shower.

The general spa facilities were clean and there were plenty of soft fresh towels in the pool area. Robes and slippers were available in our room and also in the lockers in the changing rooms which I thought was a great touch.

The food was amazing, equal to a top London restaurant - very impressive!

My facial was excellent, in fact I didn't want it to end. Unfortunately I was unwell on the second morning so I didn't go down for the extensive and delicious breakfast but my Mother told me that the staff offered to bring something to my room.

If I had to criticise I would say that there wasn't a large selection of exercise classes on offer and it would be nice if they could increase the number and variety of classes on offer each day, however I did go to both Zumba and aqua aerobics and they were both excellent classes!

I also checked beforehand if bikes were available and I was told yes which I said was excellent as I was going to bring our own bikes on the bike carrier but it would save me having to do that if bikes were available. Unfortunately when at Lifehouse I asked for a bike and I was told there were no bikes available as they had all been sent for servicing for the winter. This was very disappointing as I could easily have brought my own from home.

That said, it was a truly relaxing and enjoyable stay and I cannot wait to return!

This is an excellent spa - would recommend to anyone and would definately go back! Everything about Lifehouse is as it should be at a Spa.

We headed to Lifehouse on a snowy weekend in January. We were collected from the train station (for free!) and arrived early evening in time for our first treatment and a great two course dinner.

All staff at Lifehouse were lovely, really friendly and they all helped to make it a very enjoyable weekend. The food was great (especially afternoon tea), our twin room was very comfortable and there were lots of relaxing seating areas and papers to read.

I had a personalised facial for 55 minutes - which was absolutely heavenly, the best one I've ever had and a 55 minute full body massage which was also really good.

Only minor grumbles:
1) probably due to the cold weather outside, they had minor temperature problems with the hydrotherapy pool, but this didn't hamper our use or enjoyment of the facilities.
2) my salt and oil scrub was not great - I could have done this better myself in the shower. the salt was literally just laid on my body which took c. 5 minutes and then I scrubbed myself as I washed it off in the shower. Not worth £35.

It's worth noting that you need to book all your treatments well in advance of arrival as they had no additional treatments available over the weekend - we would really have liked a manicure as well, but there wasn't a manicurist available during the weekend and the lovely mani/pedi facilities were completely empty every time we looked in!

Would definitely return as the 2 night weekend deal was very good value and I would like to see the gardens when they are not covered in snow!

Booked an overnight stay for the Saturday as a birthday treat.
Have very mixed view on the whole experience....

*Negative Experience*
Booked in a room and food package for two being told I could reserve treatments later.
Tried to see if I could reserve a treatment with an 'Amber' but was told I would need to pay upfront, rather then leave card details to reserve.
A day before checking in was told the treatments were fully booked but would be put on a cancellations lists to be called when someone had cancelled but would need to book in a yoga class so I did that with 'Tania'. Turned out I wasn't put on the Yoga Class list as it wasn't on the itenery when I received my activity card.

Discovered there was only one therapist doing mani's/pedi's and one therapists doing messages on the Satuday, when the hotel was fully booked that night and with a waiting list still.
Another woman in the spa said she had called in 10 days prior to also be told the treatments were fully booked.
A bit of a managerial staffing error as the nail bar looked immaculate, lots of treatment rooms but with no therapists brought in to sort the high demand for treatments.
On the following day I was still going up to the bar to check availability for treatments to be told I was never on the waiting list at all.

On checking in the lady at reception was quite cold, had found out my yoga class booking hadn't been add to the system and my and my friend had to use only one room key. It was so busy no one had time to show us around and it was a bit too cold to wait in reception, so after 15 minutes of waiting decided to try and explore ourselves. Never found the gym.

The staff seems so rushed off their feet, and there wasn't a feeling of great customer service, even a fake smile would have helped.
Had to wait at least 15 minutes for 2 smoothies in which time 2 teas and a sandwich requested after our order was serviced first and no apologies were made for the delay.
The same bar in the morning had no-one around until 10.30, the menus stated it was serving from 9.30. Even witness one visitor going behind the bar to get herself a water because she had no patience left.
The wine bar and breakfast bar in the morning was the same in terms of waiting around for anyone to help or get you seated.

The breakfast had a few things missing such as butter, and staff. A staff member also having breakfast picked up the bacon being served with her fingers. A little more training needed I think in customer service all round.

*Positive Experience*

Luckily my mum had booked in two treatments and gave me one of hers. It was a neck, back and shoulder massage with 'Maria' and it was lovely!

The Yoga class was just perfect! Felt like an extemely beneficial class and the instructor was one of the best I've seen in terms encouraging relaxation and correct posturing in Yoga.

The food was fantastic and service was great! The menu had a good range of tasty options, was very hard to decide. Small portions during dinner but well flavoured and good quality. We were all left extremely full and indulged.

The salt room is great! Skin felt so smooth after and the sauna, steam, jacuzzi and pool facilities were lovely. Only downside was the two of the three showers were broken, but one shower is good.

The rooms were lush, only one biscuit packet to share between two was a bit tight considering the £15 upgrade was paid for. Wouldn't recommend upgrading to the garden room, when it's the same as the standard rooms. Especially in the winter.

The spa itself is gorgeous, really nice. Would just recommend extra staffing and pehaps COSH and customer service training to help make this one to remember as a positive experience.

Amazing facilities - the pool, sauna, steam room were all brilliant. Food in the restaurant was lovely - lots of choice, and the staff on the whole, were polite, friendly and helpful. You can also take advantage of all of the gym classes too - I did the aqua aerobics on the Monday morning - the instructor was really nice and upbeat. If I was there for longer I would have liked to have done more of the classes, as there was a good selection on offer, including a walk of the grounds, yoga, meditation, circuits and Zumaba.

I had a one night stay with my mum and we both really enjoyed our stay. The accommodation was fantastic. The rooms were excellent, clean and very large. The food in both the restaurant and juice bar was lovely.
The spa facilities and treatment were good and the massage chairs are lovely :-)
The only recommendation I would say, is to provide blankets in the relaxing room. It does get a bit cold in here, and to snuggle up with a blanket on the sofa's would just be heaven.
Other than that, what a fab place and we both we be returning in the summer.

Our overall experience was fabulous. The staff and the food were great as was the setting and the rooms. I do think however, that the food was overpriced (though it was lovely) but you are kind of confined to the one option for dinner (ie two courses or three). Dinner with wine was approximately £78.50 for two courses and one bottle, which was a little steep. On a much more positive note, the facilities were clean and the staff very friendly and helpful.. We will be back, which is a good sign!

I really want to give them 5* but ... the place need some Managers.
The staff look young and clueless – not customer focus at all.
I really like to free pick up from the station that a big plus for me!
I like the design very modern but need to be look after. The establishment has open few years ago but the outside need some painting and cleaning the windows and spiders weds!
I know they are in country side but the housekeeping team need to look outside the box.

The SPA facilities - I love the relaxing area but 2 massages chairs were not working. In the Jacuzzi one of the water beds was not working and the steam room was out of order...
The BEDROOM - I love the bathroom and the design of the twin room but my bed linen was stain and a massif hole in it... We were disappointed that we haven't been told about the safe in the room when we had our showroom - I overheard on the last day some ladies in the changing room mentioned to use our room key on the top drawer... and again massif spider web on our windows, we did pick it up yourself as it was just on the middle of the nice view into the garden.
The housekeeper should clean behind the door more often as it was a lot of hair on the floor. The massif shower was awesome!!
The GARDEN & OUTDOOR - was very nice and well mark...
The STRAWBERRY BAR – your staff look so bored behind the bar, they should be aware that client’s can heard all their private conversation and I hope they enjoy the smoothies made by each other for the staff. They should not be drinking behind the bar anyway not professional at all…
The BAR - we had some drinks outside on the terrace but were amused on our way to breakfast the next morning that our glasses and empty bottles from 18h00 the night before were still not clear from the outside area and of course more empty bottles were there too...
The RESTAURANT - ok where should I start... we had a package including 2 courses dinner, our table was booked for 19h30. When we arrived the music was so loud that we couldn't heard each other talking, so I did ask the waitress to put it down and she did without any problem but 30min later one the barman put it up again and the noise was so loud due to more people in the restaurant and glass walls all around - so for this reason the ambience was not great.
The food was very nice but it took ages for the kitchen to cook it... we order our dessert at 20h35 the table next to us did order their after us and been served before us... I did ask the waitress to check how long we will have to wait and she never come back to us so at 21h20 we decide to leave the restaurant without eating our dessert and complaint to the waitress. She says that I will have a credit note on my bill. As I have been working in the industry for 10 years I know how it work and decide to speak to the duty manager at Reception and he did say the same that he will make sure that I will not be charge for it and will have a credit on my account tomorrow.
And guess what when I did c/o they didn't have a note saying that my package has been paid by Wahanda and no credit note so I had to explain the restaurant issue again...
The BREAKFAST - I really like the healthy continental breakfast buffet but again I did request for another pot of tea twice and both waiters forgot about it so when I left the restaurant I went to them and told them to cancel my refill and them both look at me like if they had no clues of what I was talking about... you need a supervisor on the floor!
That’s very a shame as I really think this SPA establishment could do so much better with the correct management/supervisor team. I will love to come back and found out that all these constructive remarks will have been corrected and so you will really reach the 5*.