USP It's not so much the spa's treatments that promise relaxation and regeneration at Fowey Hall Hotel's Aquae Sulis Retreat. It's the promise of child-free time in which to enjoy a massage or facial. When you have young children so many spas are off limits or only accessible if you have a willing spouse who will look after them for a couple of hours. Not this one.

Fowey Hall Hotel has an OFSTED registered creche available for children from six months upwards, for a mere £5 an hour, or free if you are staying at the hotel.

AMBIENCE Once you've got over the joy of being child-free and skipped to the spa building, a few metres from the main hotel, it's time to check out the facilities. There are four large treatment rooms, complete with showers, so you don't have to traipse out and rinse in a communal area if you have had a scrub.

There is a 12-metre swimming pool which is heated enough so that young children and babies can enjoy it too. A glass wall lets the beautiful Cornish light flood in, and bathers can look out onto the spectacular Fowey coastline.

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BACKGROUND

• Cowshed at St Moritz Hotel, Cornwall

• Chi Mind, Body and Spirit, Devon

• Ocean Spa, the Bedruthan Steps Hotel, Cornwall

• St Michael's Hotel and Spa, Falmouth, Cornwall

• Downe Health Spa, Bideford, Devon

Related Links

• Cowshed at St Moritz Hotel, Cornwall

• The Oriental Spa at Es Saadi Palace, Marrakesh

The outdoor hot tub on the deck let's you get a little closer to views over the river estuary harbour, full of fishing and sailing boats, the shoreline stacked full of houses clinging to its steep sides, before it becomes a seascape of cliffs falling into the Atlantic. There can be few spas better located.

EXPERIENCE My therapist was knowledgeable and reassuring. At seven months pregnant I wanted someone who knew what was and wasn't allowable, and she did. She gave me a gentle and relaxing massage while I lay on my side, putting me on my back so that she could work on my neck and shoulder muscles, stiff from lugging a toddler around. She used the Mama mio range, and at the end of the treatment invited me to use the range's other products (stretch mark cream and other glamorous unguents) before I left, which was a nice touch.

IN-CROWD Basically, if you are staying at Fowey Hall Hotel it's because you've got children, as it is one of the luxury family hotels range. So most of the spa's clientele are exhausted mums and dads. However the spa is open to non-residents who use it as a day spa, so expect to meet some well-heeled locals.

FOOD Food isn't served in the spa, but if you purchase a pamper day package it includes a "healthy 2-course meal" from the hotel's restaurant.

WALLET WATCH A pamper day package which includes use of pool, tea and coffee and lunch range from £100 for a 120 minute bridal retreat package to £195 for a 240-minute Ultimate retreat package. Use of the creche is £5 an hour. For hotel guests the creche is free and a 30-minute massage costs a reasonable £30. An 80-minute Yon-Ka skin optimiser facial costs £80 and a Mama mio Yummy Tummy is £80 for 75 minutes.

NEED TO KNOW Aquae Sulis Retreat, Fowey Hall Hotel, Hanson Drive, Fowey, Cornwall, PL23 1ET (01726 833866 ; www.aquaesulis.com or www.foweyhallhotel.co.uk)

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