I
wouldn't exactly call myself an aficionado. but I'm certainly no
stranger to the world of white over sized toweling robes and one
size fits all waffle slippers, or in other words Health Spas. Of
which, my most recent of excursions took me – well in an
accompanying capacity that is – and my girlfriend on HER special
day, courtesy of a generous birthday gift, down to the small, family
owned Portland Day Spa, in Southport.
We
arrived in good time, thanks to favourable traffic management,
seasonally good weather conditions and – for once – a sympathetic
Sat Nav. Now, at this point I must stress the virtue, nay importance,
of car sharing, for as the saying goes “ first impressions are
important, “ or as Robbie Burns once said. “ It nae favours a
man's travels in time or far, if he cannae fin' a place to park his
car.” I always think companies should give some form of incentives
to guests to travel together, “ a coupon for group on” perhaps,
not just for the practicality of it all, but for the environment.
The
spa is an old, slightly surprising building, rich in character with a
very unexpected and interesting history. It started it's humble
beginnings – so I was reliably told – as a Quaker church, but as
the story goes, catastrophe fell upon it during the infamous ' Wild
Oats Plight' which soon thinned out it's congregational masses, thus
leaving the building open to new offers, and so it was reborn as a
synagogue, The writing was well and truly on the wall, well actually
to be more precise it was displayed in the colourful stained glass
windows. There the symbols of faith were brightly adorned, the
menorah shared it's light with a Star of David, and there was even
space for the more obscure Jewish artifacts, the celery stick lays down with the cracked egg and next to the rock cake well that's what it
looked like to me – heathen that I am – yes, no 'pane' was spared
in the spreading of the word. But, in the end even this lost tribe
finally relinquished it's claim on this piece of real estate. Perhaps
they simply slipped away one night, in an act of a northern diaspora.
Anyway, there is an air of middle-eastern promise held with-in it's
walls and dark corridors, that go to create a very distinctive and
unique atmosphere.
They
spa places great importance in the individual, here every COUPLE can
INDIVIDUALLY enter the changing room, one pair at a time that is,
'the customers went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah, the lady and the
old man, too !', to paraphrase an old song. I'm not sure if this is
just confined to mixed sexes or if this an open door policy that
swings both ways, figuratively speaking. This principle also carries
itself on to the solitary bag the couple receive to convey their wet
swimwear around with them. However, there is a slight armistice
during lunch when they 'splash out' by allowing you ONE ice cube PER
PERSON, such decadence ! On a final note I would recommend allowing
time to check out, because you may face delays waiting for the
changing room to become available, one way or another you're going to
get caught out with it.
These
little idiosyncrasies are not a critique, merely a curious
observation of procedure, for overall the staff are very polite,
professional and helpful, the lunch was absolutely delicious, we
sampled the prawn curry, and of course the building - the star of the
show - go to make this a great experience for any day spa-er, old or
new, and is more than a welcome antidote from all those clinically
sanitised fifty shades of beige spa's that over populate this
industry.
Go
on, try something different for a change.
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