Discover one of the smallest Channel Islands with a new boutique hotel opening on Alderney this autumn. The Blonde Hedgehog in St Anne will have nine rooms and suites as well as a luxury three-bedroom cottage.
Based in two buildings, a former 18th century pub and Georgian townhouse that once housed the island’s aristocracy, plus the cottage dating back to 1740, there’ll also be a restaurant serving locally sourced ingredients.
The northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands, Alderney is only three miles long and one and a half miles wide.
You can fly direct from Southampton as well as from Bristol, East Midlands, Gatwick, Stansted, Leeds Bradford and Manchester via Guernsey. There are also ferry services from Guernsey.
Rooms at the hotel cost from £230 per night.
Luxury spa for Hertfordshire
A state-of-the-art spa has opened at Sopwell House in Hertfordshire, after a £14 million investment – and hotel guests will also be able to use the facilities at the private members’ spa.
With an indoor-outdoor hydrotherapy pool as well as a thermal suite, relaxation rooms plus fitness classes, the signature treatments include an Amber & Quartz Crystal Bed, the first of its kind in a UK spa, and a Vichy Shower treatment room. There will also be treatments using Elemis, Espa and Aromatherapy Associates products.
The Georgian manor house near St Albans also has two restaurants and 12 acres of gardens.
Lapland’s floating spa hotel
For another spa with a difference, it’s hard to beat a new floating spa hotel in Swedish Lapland. Set on the surface of the Lule River (and tethered to the ice during winter) the Arctic Bath Spa Hotel will be opening in February.
With 12 rooms, the hotel is set around an open-air plunge pool, alongside sauna and hot bath, treatment rooms, and a wellbeing programme focused around meditation, yoga and crystal healing.
The rural location, an hour’s transfer from Lulea, not far from the border with Finland, also makes it a great place to spot the Northern Lights.
A three-day spa break costs from £1,923 with Discover the World.
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