USP A home from home for members of the trendy London club Soho House with a roof-top swimming pool and restaurant overlooking the West Village and Hudson River.

AMBIENCE The Cowshed Spa at Soho House members’ club and hotel is the offspring of the original Cowshed at Babington House in Somerset. Soho House is a focal point of the Meatpacking District, one of New York’s hippest areas that until the 1990s was a wholesale meat market and favourite pick up area for prostitutes – remember Sex and the City’s Samantha throwing a bucket of water over a noisy trio outside her bedroom window?

Like the hotel, Cowshed’s interior has oodles of character. There’s a baroque edge to its well-worn mix of retro and modern design with cow-skin rugs, battered leather recliners and Swarovski chandeliers.

Cowshed is keen to entice as many male clients as female and emphasises solid treatments that work for both sexes. Their products, made from hand-picked herbs from the garden at Babington House, are exported to New York and available for use in the changing rooms. They have names as eccentric as the spa’s design – Stroppy Cow Calming Bath & Massage Oil and Raging Bull Invigorating Bath & Massage Oil. Cowshed might be part of one of Manhattan’s trendiest sleepovers, but they’re not so cool for school that they can’t have a laugh.

There’s a eucalyptus steam room and a relaxation lounge, but relaxing on a sun-lounger with a cocktail by the roof terrace pool is far more seductive.

EXPERIENCE I had their signature treatment, the Cowshed Full Body Massage, which focuses on circulation using Swedish long strokes. The main purpose of Swedish massage is to increase oxygen flow in the blood and release toxins from the muscles. My therapist Bridget asked me if I had any medical conditions she should be aware of and then I chose a scent. I preferred Raging Bull.

She bolstered my ankles to take the pressure off my lower back, checked my temperature and gently squeezed the muscles all over my body through the sheet I was lying under to get a sense of my tissue condition. This is called palpation. She would palpate me every time she moved to a different area of my body so that it wasn’t a shock when it was uncovered for the full works.

Bridget constantly checked her pressure wasn’t too firm on my weakest area – my legs – and as she massaged them she recommended trying to keep them elevated above my heart as much as possible to make it easier for my heart to pump blood around my body.

Once she’d massaged my back I turned over so she could work on my front and I was given an eye pillow, like a beanbag, because she said it was important for the eyes to rest in complete darkness.

Bridget gave me a first-class massage that was pampering as well as therapeutic. She finished off by tugging my ear lobes because in the world of acupressure ears represent the immune system.

Feeling completely energised my weary legs were set up for more traipsing through the streets of Williamsburg in Brooklyn and checking out the vintage store Bridget had recommended.

FOOD Lunch of Beef Carpaccio with Rocket and Parmesan followed by Roasted Cod with Shellfish Risotto can be served in the hotel restaurant or by the pool. There are also three types of oysters on the menu.

IN-CROWD Thirty-something fashion and film tribes who prefer working and partying in urban chic surroundings as opposed to Uptown subservience and like to read the London Times as much as The New York Times. 50/50 UK and US clients.

WALLET WATCH My Cowshed massage lasted 60 minutes for $125 (£62.50); a speedy 30-minute facial costs $75; a Cowshed body wrap using sea salt and a choice of wraps, including spicy warming honey and mago wrap, costs $160 for 75 minutes. The 90-minute Cowgroom including a foot scrub and forehead pressure-point massage costs $300.

British Airways return flights from Heathrow to New York start from £298. For reservations visit ba.com or call British Airways Holidays on 0870 243 3406.

NEED TO KNOW Soho House Hotel is open to the public, but The Cowshed Spa is only open to hotel guests and members. Cowshed Spa at Soho House, 29 9th Avenue, New York 10014 ([001] 212 627 9800; www.sohohouseny.com)

For more than 200 independent spa reviews worldwide: timesonline.co.uk/goodspaguide

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