SPA WEEKEND AT RUSHTON HALL, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend surprised me by taking me away for the weekend to celebrate our first Valentine's Day together. I've never really been a mushy, soppy Valentine's kinda girl, but new relationships mean new things!

I was told to pack a weekend bag with a change of clothes, evening clothes, swimwear and fitness wear. I had no idea where I was going! After a two hour and a bit drive from London, we finally arrived in Northamptonshire and pulled into the grand gates of Rushton Hall Hotel & Spa. I soon realised I had forgotten my charger and packed a dead battery, so all of these photos were shot on my iPhone. The quality is lacking for real, but hopefully you can get an overall feel of our weekend spa break.

Rushton Hall is probably the most magnificent building I've seen in the UK yet. Owned by William Tresham who worked alongside Henry V, the mansion has been sitting on its grounds since the 1400's. With a panoramic view of fields, woodlands and a water stream at the bottom of its grounds; this place is sure to stun all its visitors.

With a spa onsite, Rushton Hall is all about relaxing and unwinding; which is definitely what I needed after a tough couple months. With a huge indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam shower, sauna and plenty of beds to lounge around on, you'll be set to feel the most relaxed you have ever felt before. You do have to book the spa treatments in advance, so we unfortunately didn't get around to experiencing a massage or facial. They also have a beauty partnership with Leighton Denny and Elemis, so offer treatments using these branded products. 

Walking through the building, you are bound to get lost at one point or another. Our room was situated on a few floors above ground and at the back of the mansion. We was booked into a superior room called The Lake Room and had a spectacular view of the grounds to enjoy. 

Our room had a gorgeous king size bed which gave us a comfortable night's sleep. The highlight of the room was its very own onsuite bathroom, which was the nicest bathroom I think I have ever stepped into. With its marble flooring, stand alone bath and marble walk-in shower and grand sink; it really did look more like a showroom bathroom than a real working one.

Ricky run me a bath and used a whole mini bottle of shampoo to create bubbles! I definitely took full advantage and had a long soak in the tub; enjoying nothing more than the silence that surrounds Rushton Hall. 

We spent the afternoon at the retreat floor; starting with a quick gym session. Remember when I used to be a fitness freak? Yeah me too. However, my motivation for the gym dropped and I've felt sluggish ever since. So yeah, I do need to change that soon!

We returned to our room, got changed into our swimwear (the trick to feeling a bit more confident before bikini season is to slap on some fake tan beforehand and you're good to go) and white robes and slippers (that are kindly provided by Rushton Hall) and headed down to the pool and sauna. 

The pool was really big which gave us plenty of space to have a swim (and a race that consisted of lots of splashing from Ricky, screaming from me and plenty of dirty looks from fellow spa-ists, but ya know...YOLO). I had never stepped foot into a sauna before this trip, so that was definitely an experience in itself. Hot, hot, hot!

For dinner, we did have a reservation booked at the restaurant on-site, but we preferred the sound of the room service menu. We decided to stay in our robes all night, which was a dream as it meant we didn't have to bother getting dressed up. 

Room service was brilliant and was delivered to us within 30 minutes and placed onto our beds. We shared a mixed feta cheese salad to start. I had a steak for main, Ricky had a massive beefburger and then we pigged out and had a chocolate brownie with ice-cream each too. So yummy!

For the rest of the evening, we enjoyed snuggling up with the TV with snacks and enjoyed a scrumptious continental breakfast the next morning.

We were honestly so sad to leave at midday the next day, but it gave us plenty of time to explore the local town and marvel at how small and somewhat derelict it is compared to our own bustling town back home.

Our stay at Rushton Hall beat all expectations of an overnight spa break and we both fully recommend it to anyone looking to unwind somewhere only a few hours outside of London.