Treating myself to a spa.

It would help to know roughly which are you are in and whether you drive or not.

I'm in Bolton and yes, I have a new Fiat 500L to show off.

Ooh I'd love a cinque cento !! Stuck with my Citroen for the forseeable future. I'd love a day at a spa to, perhaps I should remind people about my birthday

I went today with 5 friends, it was our Christmas Vouchers.
The spa is only 10 minutes drive from home.
We wore ordinary clothes, and changed into provided robes, slippers, and were given a lovely towel. I put my swimsuit on under my robe. Lounged on 'loungers', lovely chairs, had a swim, there was a platter of fruit.
We were taken in twos for our choice of treatments. I had a facial and a head massage, some of us had a back massage. It was lovely. We stopped on the way home for something to eat. When I got home dh had enjoyed a bacon sandwich

I have been on several spa days, always as a result of Travelzoo or Living Social deals. They are great fun and feel very indulgent. Just take a swimsuit as you are always given a dressing gown and towelling mules to wear while you are there.
Other clientele are usually older and wider than me and I am not a young twig! Also they tend to be female. I'm in the South East, so can't recommend any near you. I think day spas tend to be smaller and not so much fun. Friend and I went to Champneys for the day and it was marvellous.
I would recommend going with a good friend, although I have seen others on their own. Go for it!

rubylady if you trawl through the websites of local spas you can offer find a special offer for a half day/day which includes several treatments. I go to a local very nice hotel when they have a special usually facial, manicure and pedicure (but if you ring them the will be flexible) which is £90 including coffee and biscuits, lunch and use of pool and sauna etc. Yes it is worth doing , better if you can go with someone else and they give you a robe and slippers to wear between treatments. Enjoy.

rubylady my first visit to a spa was as the result of winning a mother and daughter visit to one on Gransnet. DD and I went in trepidation expecting it to be full of svelte elegant women, the kind that 'lunch'. We found it full of people just like us. At the time I was size 16 and DD is a very substantial size 22. There were women there all shapes and sizes from the downright skinny to others like DD. Nobody took any notice of other people they were too busy enjoying themselves

We had a wonderful time. It was a quite upmarket one and our interest was all in the ways of playing with water it offered us, rather than the treatments.

We have been to a variety of spas since, all of them day stas and despite purpledaffodil, being unsure about day spas, we love them.

The one thing I would say is go with a friend/partner/family member and I would recommend taking two swimming costumes. We swam in the morning, put on a dry one to go for lunch and treatments before getting that wet as well. DH comes with us now and enjoys it as much as we do.