5 spas for nature-lovers

From its enviable eco-credentials to its design-led spa, South Lodge delivers on so many levels our Spa Spies discover something new each visit (an evening swim with bats flying above being the latest). The separate spa building – entirely clad in wood and glass, with graceful curves – is a thing of beauty. Outside, there’s a kidney-shaped natural green lake surrounded by wildflowers, loungers and parasols, and a bubbly hydro-pool to warm the cockles afterwards. Inside you’ll find a sleek pool and a fresh thermal suite in pines, creams and greens. New for this year is the Nature Immersion Spa Experience, a weekend of forest bathing, spa-ing and nutritious food taking place in June and October.

Rarely do we come across a spa set on a working farm with surrounding meadows and woodland - Green Farm is one such place; the 15^th-century farmhouse converted into a spa, rooms and a restaurant. Get your brace on in the wildlife pond before warming up in one of two outdoor hot tubs – one in a secluded walled garden, the other with far-reaching countryside views. There’s also a toasty sauna, an open-air studio for Solstice yoga, a community wildlife garden and fields dotted with cows, as well as treatment rooms for ESPA facials and massages. Green Farm is currently working with the Kent Wildlife Trust to bring life back to the farm’s Beult River.

It’s nigh-on impossible to be bored when there’s 65 acres of woodland, gardens and rivers to play with. At Budock Vean water buffs can try their hand at kayaking and Stand-Up Paddleboarding or take a 90-minute cruise on the Helford River; sports enthusiasts can play a round of golf on a nine-hole, 18-tee course or challenge their partner to a game of tennis on one of two all-weather courts. There’s also a 15-metre indoor pool with log fire, a sauna, an outdoor hot tub and treatment rooms. Since 2003, the gardens surrounding the Natural Health Spa have been managed by the team with 350,000 new plants introduced since - most propagated in the on-site nursery.

It’s easy to see why sales of hot tubs are on the rise - after all, few things beat watching the sun set or the stars twinkle from warm, bubbly comfort. While these are ten a penny at UK spas these days, some lack the views to go with it. Set along the coastline of the Isle of Lewis, Hebridean is Scotland’s most remote spa, with all the pink, star-studded skies you could wish for (on a clear winter night, you may even spot the green glow of the Northern Lights). Keep your eyes peeled, too, for golden eagles, red deer, seals, otters, dolphins and whales. ·The spa also features a sauna, ice bath, relaxation areas and the island’s first Seaweed Bath experience.

Despite the engineering challenge that comes with building a hotel so close to a gushing river you can hear it whenever you’re outside (or, as we found, in your bedroom with the window open), the views alone make the head-scratching worth it. Only then can you think outside the box and craft a relaxation room on stilts for lofty views; build a greenhouse-style glass restaurant with front row seats to the watery show; or place two wood-fired hot tubs on the riverbank for spa goers to bubble in whilst watching herons fly by. In fact, every single spa experience at Galgorm has been designed to appreciate – ne salute – the setting so that you, too, can do the same.