The mission To destress after writing a book. Five months hunched over my laptop and I’m barely able to turn my neck.

Ambience Still a whiff of sanatorium about the place; a hang-over from its days as a fitness farm. Back then it was lemon and water for breakfast, followed by a brisk walk. It still has the feel of somewhere you go for health reasons rather than pampering. There’s a wide range of fitness classes and rooms to lounge in, as well as a recently opened multimillion-pound thermal spa.

A policy of encouraging guests to wear their towelling robe at all times, even during meals, unsettled me. I prefer to dress for dinner.

Quality of experience My treatment was the best thing, a one-and-a-half-hour massage, called Li’Tya Marta, inspired by indigenous Australian techniques. Dubious about the words “realign energy flow” and worried that it would make my neck worse, I was proved wrong.

Less impressive was the thermal spa, consisting of saunas and steam rooms with names such as Volcanic Salt Bath, Colour-flow Cave and Rose Sauna. Fine, if you like this sort of thing. I found that although they all smelt different, they do the same thing and there were only so many places I could sit and sweat before I craved fresh air. The whole place was a tad overheated – probably to enable lolling around in robes – and I felt much better after I had escaped for a walk.

Products Li’Tya products, buy them here: www.litya.com. Never heard of them, but they did the job and I smelt divine afterwards.

Food Liked the policy of having breakfast in bed, but supper was disappointing. Healthy, but a bit like bad pub food. Drinking, though not forbidden, is not encouraged. I couldn’t get my hands on a gin and tonic for love or money.

In-crowd Mothers and daughters treating themselves and women of a certain age kick-starting their health regimen. A handful of men skulked around, exchanging hangdog expressions.

Wallet watch There’s a high turnover of guests, which allows relatively low prices. They start from £110 per person, per night. Most weekends an average of 180 people are housed in the Victorian country house. You won’t realise this until mealtimes when there is a shift system and you are given an allotted time.

Need to know Ragdale Hall, Leicestershire. For more details, visit ragdalehall.co.uk or call 01664 434831.

For more than 245 independent spa reviews click here: timesonline.co.uk/goodspaguide

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