THE MISSION To check out the holistic therapies and beauty treatments that are offered for both men and women, locals and visitors, in a rural village in the depths of Devon.

USP When you first arrive you think that the owner must be having a laugh. For a 100 years the salon had been a butcher’s shop and the tiled front has a picture of a cow on one side and a sheep on the other. Original features have been retained inside – beauty products are laid out on the marble slabs that formerly would have had chops and sausages. The iron ceiling bars, reinforced to carry carcasses, hang down from the ceiling, but instead of sides of beef, bunches of dried flowers and other arts and crafty items hang from the butcher’s hooks.

AMBIENCE Unpretentious but thoroughly professional, quite unlike the usual sanitised, clinical, whitewashed beauty parlours and spas in more swankier locations.The two treatment rooms have the usual soft light, relaxing music, flickering candles and pleasant, wafty smells. There are plans for a third treatment room, relaxation space and Jacuzzi upstairs.

QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE I had an aromatherapy massage, including face and scalp, for an hour and then 30 minutes of reflexology from owner Tracee Cullen. She asked me whether I wanted to be energised or relaxed and mixed a massage oil, with essence of rosemary, lavender and lemon grass. Tracee assured me this would be good for revitalising the muscles as well as relieving tension.

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Practised hands did just that and I was surprised how pleasurable it was having tufts of (thinning) hair pulled. It was teasingly and ticklingly pleasant to have my toes and sole of my feet massaged.

I’m not sure I subscribe to the efficacy of Chakra, having seven different crystals placed on my body “to rebalance it” but Tracee certainly got rid of the knot in my shoulder during the session and energised me sufficiently to pop over to the Golden Lion afterwards as she had instructed me to “take plenty of liquids”.

The Research Assistant had a Dead Sea salt scrub and then mud envelopment treatment (wrapped in tin foil and hot towels) followed by a manicure delivered expertly by Tanya. It met with her approval: “My skin feels like a new baby’s.” The vivid Cambridge Blue nail polish did not meet with my approval, being an Oxford man myself, but she said the colour went with her blouse.

PRODUCTS Ahava Dead Sea products are used for the treatments, based on natural minerals that encourage the self-repair of skin. Essential oils are individually mixed according to the treatments required.

FOOD Tracee and her team offer pamper packages for small groups and she uses one or other of the pubs in the village to supply them with buffet-style food over the day as well as juices. Otherwise there is plenty of water on tap and fruit teas.

IN CROWD The place is very popular with locals who come in to ease away their aches and pains or for beauty treatments. Five years ago when Tracee returned to her native village after living abroad (she was the MD of an IT company before re-training), there were few male clients. Today about a third are men. I asked one client, a farmer’s wife, why she came to Chi. “Sometimes it’s maintenance, sometimes it’s necessity and sometimes it’s pure indulgence. It depends on the finances. But it’s wonderful to have this in the village. Before I had to struggle to Exeter for treatments …”

WALLET WATCH The treatments are exceptional value for money. My 90-minute treatment cost £36. A Chi manicure (30 minutes) costs £15, salt-glow body scrub (30 minutes) costs £20 and the mud envelopment (one hour) is £30.

NEED TO KNOW Located in the main street of High Bickington, North Devon almost opposite the Golden Lion pub (01769 560118; www.chimindbodyandspirit.co.uk)

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