RESORT SPA SARAH TODD » NEWS EDITOR » SPA BUSINESS
modern TWIST
The new Rockliffe Hall hotel, a former
18th century English estate, is steeped in history but features a state of the art spa
B
oasting landscaped gardens, rare trees and flanked by the River Tees, the 375-acre (152-hectare) grounds of Rockliffe Hall in the north of England are stunning.
Te hall, formerly an 18th century stately
home and estate, reopened in November 2009 as a multi-layered business featuring a 61-bedroom hotel, an 18-hole golf course and a number of restaurants including the Michelin-starred Orangery. Te jewel in the crown, however, is a 50,000sq ſt (4,645sq m) spa and health centre – one of the largest UK spa openings in the past year. “Te strength of Rockliffe Hall is really in
the sum of parts,” says managing director Nick Holmes. “Although any of the ele- ments could be independent profit centres, our primary objective is to market ourselves
as a destination.” And one particular selling point of this ‘destination’ is its history.
A sporting chance Te original plans for Rockliffe Hall date back to 1774. It was a private home for many years, with residents including renowned botanists the Backhouses, and from 1950 was also a hospital and community centre. In 1996, the estate was acquired by Gib-
son O’Neill, a company which Steve Gibson – chairman of local football club Middlesbor- ough FC – has a 75 per cent share in. Gibson, a self-made millionaire, is a local hero: he’s saved the club from liquidation, built it a new stadium and in 1998 he opened a £7m (us$11.2m, €8m) training and sports science academy in the grounds of Rockliffe Hall, where the team still practises today.
Rockliffe Hall hotel & spa by numbers
n Bed and breakfast prices at the hotel start at £270 (us$431, €307) based on two people sharing. Tere is no extra
charge for the chromatherapy rooms. n Day spa membership costs £95 (us$152, €108) and includes a lifestyle analysis, regular health checks, access to all spa and fitness facilities and a 10 per cent discount on all products,
treatments and food/drinks in the resort n Residential spa programmes can last two to three days. Te Time to Dream Sleep programme with Doctor
Meadows costs £395 (us$631, €449). n Te 60-minute Sweat Pea and
Ila has picked plants on-site to be used in the spa’s signature therapies
Rose Facial costs £80 (us$128, £91) n Forty people work at the spa including 12 full-time therapists
66 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital While the hall sadly stood derelict for
more than a decade, Holmes says “it was always part of Steve’s plan to eventually do something special with it.”
Quintessentially English It took more than five years and £60m (us$96m, €68.2m) to fully refurbish the former stately home. Te architects Browne Smith Baker and interior designers RTR Design kept much of the building’s Vic- torian and gothic architecture, but added modern touches. A standout feature of the spa, for example, is an indoor swimming pool which is saturated in colourful lights from stained glass windows, sourced from a disused chapel on-site. Many areas of the operation also have
a quintessential English feel to them – from aſternoon tea and traditional Sunday lunch to clay pigeon shooting and rambling over the idyllic grounds. Tis extends to the spa where six ‘butlers’ are always on hand to ensure that guests have all the guidance and information they need, especially in the hydrotherapy area and thermal suite where they give advice on how to get the maximum benefits from the five different heat experi- ences that are on offer. Meanwhile, the spa’s signature therapies
have drawn inspiration from Alfred Back- house, the estate’s 18th century owner who was an ardent horticulturalist. Scents from his favourite plants are used in the Sweet Pea and Rose Facial, while the Horse Chest- nut and Pine Scrub Wrap was inspired by the woods he commissioned. The thera- pies, which were created in conjunction with the UK organic product company ila, are a unique selling point and use ingredi- ents harvested from the grounds.
SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010
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