The mission To see whether “Ireland's leading spa”, as the Monart website boasts, is all it's cracked up to be.

USP With bolt-on hotel spas springing up like mushrooms, Monart has gone one step further and claims to have been the first in Ireland to market itself solely as a spa hotel.

Ambience Set in 100 acres of woodland a few minutes' drive from the busy market town of Enniscorthy, Monart is near enough to civilisation if you get fed up with being good, and fancy a stroll to a pub for a pint of the dark stuff, and far enough in the country to feel in tune with nature.

The hotel is centred around a fine Georgian house, from which a glass walkway leads to two arcing modern glass and wooden arms: one for accommodation; the other for the bar, restaurant and spa. Attentive staff extend a warm Irish welcome and there's enough plate glass to help this part of the country make the most of its reputation as Ireland's “sunny south-east”.

10 classic lifestyle holidays

We've sifted through our archive to dig out the most spiritually uplifting breaks to help you feel good

• The Good Spa Guide: Budget

8 best holistic spas

Sunday Times Travel Magazine travel experts have scoured the globe for spas that help you embrace nature

• Five retreat spas

Related Links

• 5 of the best Irish spas

Guests are encouraged to pad around in slippers and fluffy robes, though not at dinner, when the dress code is as formal as you like.

Quality of experience The two treatments I had were good and the therapists were efficient and quiet. From a wide menu of treatments I chose the tropical wrap (55 minutes) “to nourish and rejuvenate the skin”. Papaya and pineapple combined with crème fraîche in a fruity cream which did indeed leave my skin feeling silky-smooth, if a bit whiffy. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the fruit-fly season hadn't got underway, not to mention the wasps - yikes!

The tension-busting Deluxe Monart massage (55 minutes), with rosemary oil for tired muscles, did everything it said on the tin, and included a soothing hot-stone back massage. Slippers warmed in the microwave was a nice touch, widening the smile in my eyes as I toddled off to the candle-lit relaxation room to snuggle under a blanket for some beauty sleep.

Products Pevonia Botanica products are used in all the treatments and claim to marry science with all things natural to promote the body beautiful.

Food A great place for indulging either a passion for good food (sourced locally or as near as dammit) or a more pared-down regimen. The star of the show for me was the Guinness and molasses bread; rich, dark and worth breaking any diet for.

Breakfast is a splendid affair with everything from porridge to fruit-and-veg smoothies and, of course, the full Irish. Dinner includes fish and fowl, such as turbot and roast squab pigeon.

In-crowd The Celtic tiger may have lost some of its bite, but it still likes to be pampered. When I was there, even during the week the spa was busy with mostly youngish professional men and women and local residents popping in for a day visit, warming their hides in the spa's thermal suite and taking a dip in the heated hydrotherapy pool. Homegrown celebrity guests include Cecelia Ahern, the chick-lit author and daughter of the former Taoiseach.

Wallet watch The huge double rooms (with beds you can get lost in) cost from €160 (£125) per person for bed and breakfast with a single supplement of €42 a night. The papaya and pineapple tropical wrap costs €120; the Deluxe Monart massage, €115.

Need to know Monart Destination Spa, 00-353-53 9238999, www.monart.ie, is two-and-a-half hours from Dublin. Aer Lingus (www.aer lingus.com) and British Midland (www.flybmi.com) fly from Heathrow. Flight time: 1hr 20min.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?