I want a Japanese Salt Steam Bath here at home! Heated seats and walls, a room temperature of 45°c (113°f) and humidity between 90 and 100%. This was, once again, my favourite “treatment” at the Nottingham Aqua Sana Spa. The other spa rooms are all very good too but, for me, they don’t quite match the Japanese salt.
We arrived at Center Parcs at just before 9:00AM, managed to park right opposite the entrance to the spa and checked in at reception. After a brief and very friendly explanation of our day over a cup of coffee from one of the staff, we headed off into the spa. Some 5 hours later we re-emerged, feeling very much relaxed and, a little disturbing for me, smelling of a wonderful mix of the aromas used in the various steam rooms! Lemon, Camomile, Sage, Rosemary and Eucalyptus are all used at some point. I may suggest a new spa room... the Whisky Steam Bath!
Lunch in the Conservatory Café- included in the price - was very tasty, and healthy too. Lynda had a Jacket Potato with a Coriander Chicken Salad; I had a potato with a Rice & Mushroom Salad. We then undid all the good of the first course by having dessert - Carrot Cake for Lynda, Lemon Drizzle Cake for me! Well, too much healthy food in one day isn’t good for you, is it?
After lunch we spent a while sat outside on the balcony of the spa, wrapped in two huge great big fluffy blankets to keep warm! I can imagine this to be a great spot to be on a snowy winter’s evening. Having let our lunch go down a little we returned to the spa rooms for another hour or so before heading off into the main village.
As the weather wasn’t too good, lots of heavy rain showers, we didn’t spend too much time looking around the village square but there have been one or two changes since we last visited back in October 2006. Starbucks now have a coffee shop there, the Country Club is now a “contemporary gastro pub” (their words, not mine!) and a couple of new shops have opened. Other than that it’s business as usual.
The swimming dome is much the same... we both came back with bruises from the water slides and rapids so things can’t have changed too much! One small step forward was that Lynda managed to go down both the Raft Ride and one of the water slides without screaming! Now that is progress!
Having enjoyed around 3 hours in the pool area we headed back out into the village again. We walked to the far end of the park and had a drink in the gastro pub before returning to Luciano’s, the Italian restaurant. Once again, nothing much changes here; the food was great, the service spot on. The Nottingham Center Parcs is still the best as far as we are concerned. The staff are always great, the swimming dome is, we reckon, the best and the park layout is superb.
At just after 10:00PM we decided it was time to make tracks for home. By 11:30PM we were tucked up in day, relaxed and very happy. This morning we didn’t drag ourselves out of bed until after 11:00AM so, I guess, it must have been a tiring day out too! Roll on November when we return to Sherwood Forest!
We arrived at Center Parcs at just before 9:00AM, managed to park right opposite the entrance to the spa and checked in at reception. After a brief and very friendly explanation of our day over a cup of coffee from one of the staff, we headed off into the spa. Some 5 hours later we re-emerged, feeling very much relaxed and, a little disturbing for me, smelling of a wonderful mix of the aromas used in the various steam rooms! Lemon, Camomile, Sage, Rosemary and Eucalyptus are all used at some point. I may suggest a new spa room... the Whisky Steam Bath!
Lunch in the Conservatory Café- included in the price - was very tasty, and healthy too. Lynda had a Jacket Potato with a Coriander Chicken Salad; I had a potato with a Rice & Mushroom Salad. We then undid all the good of the first course by having dessert - Carrot Cake for Lynda, Lemon Drizzle Cake for me! Well, too much healthy food in one day isn’t good for you, is it?
After lunch we spent a while sat outside on the balcony of the spa, wrapped in two huge great big fluffy blankets to keep warm! I can imagine this to be a great spot to be on a snowy winter’s evening. Having let our lunch go down a little we returned to the spa rooms for another hour or so before heading off into the main village.
As the weather wasn’t too good, lots of heavy rain showers, we didn’t spend too much time looking around the village square but there have been one or two changes since we last visited back in October 2006. Starbucks now have a coffee shop there, the Country Club is now a “contemporary gastro pub” (their words, not mine!) and a couple of new shops have opened. Other than that it’s business as usual.
The swimming dome is much the same... we both came back with bruises from the water slides and rapids so things can’t have changed too much! One small step forward was that Lynda managed to go down both the Raft Ride and one of the water slides without screaming! Now that is progress!
Having enjoyed around 3 hours in the pool area we headed back out into the village again. We walked to the far end of the park and had a drink in the gastro pub before returning to Luciano’s, the Italian restaurant. Once again, nothing much changes here; the food was great, the service spot on. The Nottingham Center Parcs is still the best as far as we are concerned. The staff are always great, the swimming dome is, we reckon, the best and the park layout is superb.
At just after 10:00PM we decided it was time to make tracks for home. By 11:30PM we were tucked up in day, relaxed and very happy. This morning we didn’t drag ourselves out of bed until after 11:00AM so, I guess, it must have been a tiring day out too! Roll on November when we return to Sherwood Forest!
I wanna go to Sherwood forest. When are they gonna build a Centre Parcs here? If I can't be there they might as well move closer to me ;-) Lynda has made more progress than I would have. I don't even swim :-)) Glad you had such a good time. You both deserved it. That was nice of you to get Lynda a birthday gift the two of you could enjoy :-)
ReplyDeleteSarah