Spa Culture with Style

Picture a six-storey building, translucent and light filled, arrayed with a fantastic range of tiny mosaic tiles in the kinds of shades of lapis lazuli and turquoise that advise classical Egypt.

On the top storey of the Sheraton One Spa there is an outdoor hydro pool. Gazing languidly across the wide, open spaces around the headquarters of approved Life and the Edinburgh International consulation Centre, you can observe life, the universe and everything. The warm bubbles will embrace you and you cannot but feel that nothing, but nothing, can be this peaceful.

Turquoise

Even in the dark days of winter, with flakes of snow drifting across the horizon, you will feel at one with this world.

Maybe that's why they call it One Spa.

When you manage to tear yourself away from the hydro pool, there is a cornucopia of other delights to observe across the other floors.

First of all is a thermal suite of a calibre no spa afficiando could possibly take issue with. Come into the mosaic enriched serpentine loop of the Rain Forest shower. As your head is delicately spangled with a vaguely botanical-scented drizzle, four other jets warm your body and transport you to some distant Amazonian location.

From there, do the circuit. First is the Laconium where you can build yourself a fantasy enchanting Roman Emperors while sitting on warm stone seats contemplating the fountain.

The Bio Sauna is a glass-sided room, cooler than a quarterly sauna, and deliciously scented with a faintly citrus blend which detoxes and relaxes.

The Rock Sauna is for real heat freaks. The thick, dense wood with its roughened surfaces make the walls feel redolent with natural age, and the level of heat is undoubtedly right.

The Hamas Room - we're back with Classical Times - is what a steam room ought to be. Circular, with tiny colour-changing lights embedded in the ceiling, this is possibly where the colourful mosaic tiles are at their most appealing. In the centre is a quadruple of gorgeous pale green washbasins where you can cool off.

There's also the Aromatherapy room, where a distinct scent moderately steams in each day. You can flake out on one of the heated, contoured freedom beds after all that hard work, and round off with a peppermint shower.

On your way back towards the changing rooms, you will pass the 19 metre Ozone swimming pool. For person like me - I react intensely to the chlorine in most pools - this is a joy.

The whole thing is the thought of Susan Harmsworth, herself a glowing example of her own creations. Although she is nearly 60, you would never know it.

She has not only designer and owner of spas all over the world, but she has industrialized Espa's own range of natural attractiveness products and she runs a training carrying out arm too.

The attractiveness suite at One Spa boasts 11 cut off rooms, all of them kitted out to the same high standards as the rest of the centre. Here you can indulge in all from massage, purifying herbal linen wraps enchanting hot stones, soothing and nourishing facials and ayurvedic head and scalp massages. Men too, by the way, at least for some of the options.

The whole scheme represents an investment of some £16 million by the Sheraton Grand Hotel, but Harmsworth's care, potential of manufacture and emphasis upon members and visitors' pleasure is obvious as a result.

Downstairs in the gym, the same light levels fill an area which is spacious, well-equipped, properly staffed with fitness instructors who know their enterprise - along with a personal trainer, Ian Bell, available for £40 an hour - and well planned out.

While all of the instructors are helpful and fully qualified, it is probably Ian Bell that makes this gym different. Somehow, he manages to concentrate motivational skills with a friendly, approachable style that doesn't make you feel as if you are some sort of abject failure. He is straight, honest and understanding and he builds a programme that will test you but not destroy you.

As a full member, you will receive a dinky see-through Swatch Watch and a Tag key. Why? The first is your entry key. It not only opens all the relevant glass gateways around the Spa, but it also allows you to passage a locker in the changing room.

The nifty Tag key has a microchip that carries your entire fitness programme on it. You register the gym, slot your Tag key into the consul, and low and discern up pops your first exercise. As you work your way around the machines, each adjusts to your position and your private programme specification. You can track your strengthen (Depressing!) and see how much weight you have lifted (Encouraging! I've hit 5500 kg each session now).

To round it all off, there's an exquisite tiny café that serves lovely light snack meals and drinks. Down on the ground floor, there is probably Edinburgh's very best Italian restaurant. Santini is the creation of Tony Santini, a Sicilian, and his daughter, and the food that they yield might best be described as wholesome, rustic cooking at its best.

They make their own pasta, serve Parmesan in allowable shavings, not tiny dry grated bits, and their sauces are first class. As far as possible, they source their ingredients from Italy so that they are authentic, and they make their own bread. It's not cheap but it is an unforgettable experience.

It has to be said that One Spa isn't cheap either. My membership costs me £85 a month and there is a one-off joining fee of £250 on top of that. There are cheaper packages available, but they don't include use of all the facilities.

Beauty treatments range from around £25 to £150, and all of the Espa products are available for purchase.

In terms of my sanity as well as my general fitness and well being, it's worth every penny. I'd rather give up buying some new clothes or the odd costly meal out than give up One Spa.

Spa Culture with Style

Tags : The Bests Rings