Ad. Press trip. As I walked outside to our own private spa garden with sprawling views of North Yorkshire, birds swooping low to the ground to get their next meal, a person riding a horse in the distance and swans swimming majestically on the lake in front of me, I wondered how I’d never visited the Nadarra Spa at the Coniston Hotel before now. As I stepped into the warm ‘tea bath’ with the scent of apples and mint wafting up I felt my shoulders relax and let out a contented sigh. Reaching for the glass of bubbles and the Matcha blondie provided to enjoy whilst bathing I knew this was the life for me! But let’s skip to a little rundown of the morning before this blissful event
Pricing
My press trip here was to experience Private Spa Garden Bath Experience at the Nadarra Spa. On a Monday to Thursday this is £99 pp and it’s £109 on other days. This either includes a one course brunch or lunch, depending on the arrival time you chose. We chose an early start of just after 9am. So we started the day with a welcome juice shot, filled in all the necessary paperwork including our lunch order and choice of tea infusion for the bath. Then proceeded to spend our two hours of thermal suite access before the bath began.
Thermal Suite
You walk into the vast 15m indoor pool and indoor jacuzzi which is perfect for when the weather is sub par. The pool is much cooler than the outside ones but still warm enough that we enjoyed swimming a few lengths whilst there.
Then around the outside there’s a Himalayan salt sauna, aromatherapy steam room, Finnish sauna, experience showers and an infra red sauna with views of the country side beyond. My faves were the salt sauna as wasn’t super hot, and helps with breathing etc, and the infrared sauna as I hadn’t been in one before!
Outside there’s two very warm, infinity pools which have bubble jets in which I have to say are the spas outstanding feature and we spent most of our 2 hours in them. They are heated, have seating around three edges and the bubbles are powered by a button on the side. There’s one either side of the decking, both with great views of the grounds and the lake.
The Yorkshire Tea Bath
As part of the Private Spa Garden Bath Experience at the Nadarra Spa, you get exactly that. The Bath experience is dubbed the Yorkshire Tea bath which I love! As I mentioned though you can choose your tea infusion to lay in for the 45 minute experience. I chose apple and mint and Luke chose Matcha. Well, actually we chose opposite but they set the bath in the sun up with Luke’s chosen blend so we swapped!
The private garden has a swing chair, two loungers, a water feature, a heater and of course two roll top baths. The views are simply stunning. We walked past the area to get to the spa and have to say you couldn’t see in and it was super private. That said you wear your swimmers in the bath anyways of course. This is Britain after all!! We had our spa host show us around and she’d set up a glass of fizz and a plate of sweet treats for us to enjoy whist bathing. The Matcha brownie is enough reason for you to go I have to say! The macarons were also superb. The baths stayed warm but you could top up, and half way though I ordered another glass of bubbles as they were so nice. (Quite sweet like an Asti, but was Prosecco!) We really enjoyed just lazing there and it was a lovely thing to do and something different to do too. One to note is that the baths aren’t covered. If it’s proper raining I’m not sure what happens. There was umbrellas though so maybe that’s an option!
The Food
The Blossom Kitchen is subtly themed with blossom tree pics and a faux blossom tree inside. There’s seats indoors and also a terrace outside. This flows alongside the car park and main entrance so we chose to stay inside for our main and then take dessert outside.
Included in our package was a one course lunch. We chose when we checked in meaning that service was super fast and we had food within ten mins. It did get very busy as others arrived for late brunch and lunch prior to their afternoon spa. So we’re glad of ordering. The wait for others wasn’t too long though, maybe 20-30 mins. We also noticed a lot of hotel guests (you can add in two hours spa access with some stays) arriving for some spa time. As we left it was pretty busy in the spa area so glad we’d opted for the earlier start.
Anyways, the menu was a selection of Asian cuisine small plates. You could select three of these as part of the package. We had 2 different bai buns, duck pancakes, belly pork, king prawns and Thai curry fish bon bon’s. We then had a cocktail and mocktail that we paid for. Then when I saw the Matcha blondie on the deserts menu I knew I had to have more! So we took that and a coffee (for Luke) outside.
Plus Size Pointers
From a plus size perspective there were plenty of sturdy loungers and the towels provided were large enough to use to lay on and wrap around me. As the weather was rainy when we visited the cushions were not on the outside loungers, but inside they were and were comfy and wide.
Robe wise they give you these at the point of filling in the survey which I liked as it means it’s more personal. I got a XL given to me and it was plenty big enough. They go up to a XXL so I’d say would fit a 24-26 dependant in your shape. They are plain white though, so if you wanted to take your own for comfort you could do and not stand out. Well, providing it was white that is. They don’t provide flip flops so I just took my own as everyone else did too. Mine are my fave scented brand, Freedom Moses via ASOS* (currently £17.)
My Bikini choices for the day were Pink bikini bottoms from George at Asda, and a We are We Wear Bikini top in their bright floral print. I got it from Vinted for a steal but it’s also on ASOS for £11.50* now too! I had to change thought as my bottoms were see through when wet! Not the best so won’t link them. I took another thank goodness which was my Pour Moi Space Frill * top in blue (available in mint anbd black this year £32). Matched with Figleaves Frida Bikini bottoms * (£12 in sale now.)
You can find the same and similar items all here on my like to know it account
Accessibility
Accessibility wise, there’s a main pool hoist, accessible changing facilities next to the main pool. Plus all areas in and out of the rooms and to outside are flat with no steps. To access the lounger area or to get pool side. The hoist doesn’t work in the smaller outdoor pools unfortunately, these are quite shallow (you can see I’m kneeling in the pics.) They also have a higher ledge around them for sitting which could also be the restriction. They do have larger treatment rooms too which can fit a wheelchair and/or give more room to move. So if you have additional access needs then please shout them and let them know. They were more than quick to reply to my enquiries on this for you!
Overall we really enjoyed our time at Nadarra Spa. The timing was just enough to enjoy the facilities and the spa bath was certainly different and enjoyable! For the price and what’s included I don’t think you can fault it. We’re already talking about a revisit in the winter as think the outdoor pools will be so fab then. Plus I need my Matcha blondie fix. If you’d like to visit, my voucher code LUCYSPA gets you 20% off spa visits up to the end of September 2023. (Excl bank holidays.) Making our package great value at £79.20 each.
For more plus size spa reviews why not check out my review of the Three Graces spa at Grantley Hall hotel?
*Indicates an event/experience I was invited to as a blogger. I may also receive gifts as part of the event for consideration of review after. As always thoughts and opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate links. For further details please refer to my PR and Disclaimer Page in the menu above