WALLET WATCH From £180 per room per night B&B, 30 minute Shirobyanga (Indian head massage) £35, 4-hour spa journey from £175, set 3-course lunch £19.50, average dinner main course £20, glass of Prosecco £4.

Best for... heritage factor: The Lido Spa, Bristol

The Lido, Oakfield Place, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2BJ, UK (+44 117 933 9530; www.lidobristol.com) open daily from 7 am – 10 pm.

USP Not only is this a spruced up old-fashioned lido but it has a spa to boot. The pool is a delight to swim in and is overlooked by an outdoor Jacuzzi, an indoor steam room and sauna, and a café and restaurant where good food is served by personable staff.

Expert View

Each day includes a luscious 2.5-hour-long four-handed ayurvedic massage

Caroline Sylger Jones

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Treatments on offer are genuinely holistic. Devised by ila, they use organically-sourced products including Lomi Lomi and maternity massage as well as inventive scrubs, wraps, facials and massages based on ayurvedic principles.

WALLET WATCH The basic day spa package is £95 and includes a one-hour ila spa treatment, use of the facilities from 9 am till 10 pm, breakfast, lunch and complimentary drinks throughout the day. A swim and use of the facilities for a 3-hour stretch is £15 for adults, £7.50 for children. Treatments start from £50 for a one-hour facial. Full membership is £40 a month, or £450 a year. Nibbles from £3, starters from £6, mains from £15.

Stay overnight at Bristol’s Hotel du Vin which has teamed up with the Lido to offer a midweek wellbeing break for spa-seekers£225 includes one night’s accommodation from Sunday to Thursday, breakfast and dinner for two with a bottle of wine, a return taxi to the lido, use of the Lido facilities for two and one treatment each. Call the hotel for weekend deals (0117 925 5577, www.hotelduvin.com/bristol).

Best for... tired parents: Aquae Sulis Retreat, Fowey Hall, Cornwall

Fowey Hall Hotel, Hanson Drive, Fowey, Cornwall, PL23 1ET (01726 833866 ; www.aquaesulis.com or www.foweyhallhotel.co.uk)

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.

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.

Best for... food and walking: Verbena Spa, Feversham Arms Hotel, North Yorkshire

Helmsley, North Yorkshire YO62 5AG. (01439 770766; www.prideofbritainhotels.com/feversham-arms-hotel)

USP Simon Rhatigan was the general manager who launched the Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall in Co Durham, which is regularly voted the best in Britain and one of the best in the world. He is now installed as the owner of the Feversham Arms in Helmsley, an impossibly cute town on the edge of the North Yorks Moors, and hoping to equal his past pampering success with the newly opened Verbena Spa.

WALLET WATCH Doubles from £140, B&B, £200 D,B&B. Spa days from £245 including four hours and 15 minutes worth of treatments and lunch.

Best for.. golf:Lough Erne Golf Resort, Co. Fermanagh

USP The hotel is on the edge of Lough Erne, a brooding expanse of water in Northern Ireland countryside, surrounded by towns that are now peaceful, but whose names rouse memories of headlines during the province’s troubles – most notably Eniskillen, the site of Remembrance Day Bombing in 1987.

WALLET WATCH Prices start at £65 for a one-hour massage, or there are spa packages that include meals, accommodation and other activities. The Soul Revival treatment costs £70 and the Facial Remedy £55.

NEED TO KNOW Lough Erne Golf Resort, Belleek Rd, Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, BT93 7ED (www.loughernegolfresort.com; tel. 028 6632 3230). Fly to Sligo (closest airport), Belfast, Derry or Dublin.

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