Weekend | Carden Park Hotel & Spa

Having been ordered (ok advised, but still!) to relax, drink plenty of water, consume non-fatty foods and my personal favourite, avoid vigorous exercise – I am currently glued to the sofa, reflecting on the long weekend I am soon to leave behind.

The weekend for us, started on Friday with a spot of shopping at the Trafford Centre. I managed to finally pick up some silver jewellery and new fitness clothing. On Saturday we went to see 'The Wolf of Wall Street' - if you haven't already, you must. It was the best film I have seen in a very long time and Leonardo DiCaprio can really do no wrong in my eyes at the moment.

On Sunday morning, B and myself headed to the Carden Park Hotel and Spa in Chester. 

The Random part: before beginning the relaxation stage of our weekend (to B’s horror) I thought it would be a brilliant idea to take advantage of the fun and games available at Muddy Good Fun. We did the Sky Fox activity which was a series of zip wires through the hotel grounds. I LOVED IT! Although I think it’s safe to say that the poor guy that was lumbered with taking us around thought we had some serious issues.

Anyway, after the random zip wire activity we checked in to the hotel then grabbed some lunch and headed to the spa in our plush robe and slippers. We swam, jacuzzi’d, steamed and sauna’d before torturing ourselves with a brutally cold shower – I’m told it closes the pores so hope that is the case! After that we, well I, had a good workout in the gym, and then we retreated to our room for an afternoon nap with a hint of old school Nickelodeon programmes.

My favourite part: the three course dinner. In the words of B, it was ‘insaaaane’.

We chose to eat in the Redmond’s Restaurant - for starter I had the duck wonton with noodle salad; my main was the salmon fillet with curried lentils and for dessert I had the lemon and raspberry meringue slice with a shortbread crust, a raspberry syllabub and raspberry sorbet (phew! that was a mouthful - no pun intended). I’m pretty much drooling just thinking about it. The service was amazing too. We then treated ourselves to a cheeky gin and lemonade to end the night.

The treatment: the next morning, after a delicious breakfast in Redmond’s, we finally had our treatment. We both opted for the detox body wrap (hence my ‘orders’ to relax) that included a skin brush, exfoliation, detoxing wrap and a scalp massage. I’ve never had a spa treatment but I would most definitely do it again! I felt so relaxed and sleepy. Sadly, I forgot about my camera for this part of the weekend so I don’t have any photographic evidence of us wrapped in tinfoil – what a shame!

It has been a weekend of firsts and certainly one that I wouldn’t mind repeating – it’s amazing what a bit of relaxation, delicious food and fabulous company can really do for you. Have you ever considered a spa weekend, or even the zip wire?!

 L x