There was a time when pampering in Ireland consisted of an extra helping of fried bread with your cooked breakfast. That’s all changed. These days, the most influential names in the business are falling over themselves to open lavish spas there.

The ultra-stylish Asian chain Banyan Tree bypassed the UK’s finest and headed instead for a hotel at the gateway to the Ring of Kerry; the hippie-chic Aveda brand chose the Lakes of Killarney for its first European spa; and A-list beauty houses Espa and Elemis have been opening Irish outposts at the rate of almost one per month for the past year. Even Six Senses, the brain behind the celebrity-magnet Maldivian resorts of Soneva Fushi and Gili, is said to be scouting Gaelic locations.

More evidence that Ireland is overtaking the UK as a chillout chamber came at the recent prestigious 2005 SpaFinder Readers’ Choice Awards in Singapore.

The Mandarin Oriental, in London, tied with Chewton Glen, in Hampshire, for best UK spa; and the Park Hotel, in Kenmare, took the award for Ireland. So far, so predictable — but the Irish pretender went on to win second most romantic spa in the world and third best for interior design.

So, the big question is, where are the best spas — Britain or Ireland? I’d been rubbed, scrubbed, wrapped and reiki’d at just about every top hotel spa in the UK — time to jump on a plane to find out how they measure up across the Irish Sea.

First stop, the Park Hotel, a late-Victorian pile overlooking the picture-perfect Kenmare Bay. I knew instantly that it had the edge over London’s Mandarin Oriental. On paper, it looks like a score draw: both have excellent therapists; both feature Espa treatments; the massage techniques are the same; and the costs are comparable. So it comes down to location.

This is the Mandarin’s weak spot: its spa is in the basement of the hotel. True destination spas need dreamy views to gaze at as you agonise over whether to go for the lavender oil or the jojoba essence blended with the first tears of a newborn baby.

But what about Chewton Glen, the other pugilist in that three-way punch-up in Singapore? An 18th-century grande dame in 130 acres of parkland, it certainly gives the Park a run for its money when it comes to a spectacular setting.

Both are well endowed with antiques and ancestral oil paintings, and both offer superb service — even if the staff at the Park look as though they’ve come straight from a Sunday-night feelgood TV period drama.

But while Chewton Glen has struggled to haul its 15-year-old spa into the 21st century, the Park opened Samas as recently as February 2004. I stepped in and found a what-women-want ode to modernity: seamlessly soothing architecture in local stone, with endless karma tea candles and the magnificent glass cage of a relaxation room built into its woodland — they had to drag me out of it. So, the Park wins - Ireland 1-0 up.

Next, I checked out quick getaways from the capital. In the UK, that would be the Grove, near Watford; in Ireland, the K Club, in Straffan. The Grove’s Sequoia spa, a favourite of Posh’s, has an impressive indoor pool and a Japanese garden, but only a smallish juice bar and a tiny restaurant — all a bit cramped for a weekend chill-fest.

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In comparison, the K Club’s spa is vast and glamorous: an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a cafe in which you could develop agoraphobia and lovely gardens to spill out on to. The Grove’s accommodation is more relaxing — the K Club is one of those intimidatingly grand places where I found I was still whispering in my bedroom — but the K Club spa’s sense of serenity left me swooning. Ireland 2, England 0.

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