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Verbena Spa is attached to the renowned country house hotel The Feversham Arms Hotel in the charming North Yorkshire town of Helmsley. The hotel has a reputation for exacting service, food and supremely appointed rooms. The Verbena Spa has been built and is serviced to the same standards providing a first-class facility with consummate and professional service.

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Pros

• The ultimate in relaxation and pampering.
• Choice of spa dining - afternoon tea is pure decadence.
• Vast array of spa-beauty treaments to suit everyone.
• Keep an eye on the special offers - including hotel stays - serious bargains to be had.
• Outdoor pool, hot tub, heat experience, and my favourite the relaxation suite.

Cons

• Disappointing dressing gowns. Updated 2013: The gowns are still not great.

Description

• Verbena Spa at the Feversham Arms Hotel
• Helmsley YO62 5AG
• T: 01439 772930 - F: 01439 770346
• Verbena Spa Web Site
• Treatment List
• Food and Drink
• The Feversham Arms

• Images of Verbena Spa

Guide Review - A Very Special Afternoon Tea - Verbena Spa at Feversham Arms, Helmsley

Bathrobes and slippers are provided but not swimwear. The changing rooms are small for the size of spa and could be congested at busy times but otherwise have plenty of toiletries, cotton wools, buds, hairdryers and drench showers.

Allow time for the lavish heat experience which includes an aromatherapy room, saunarium, salt vapour room and can easily eat up a few hours of relaxation time and that's before you step outside.

The spa garden houses an outdoor heated pool - which from experience I can tell you is possible to use on even the coldest snow-bound day - and a hot tub, that's another hour gone.

Visiting with girlfriends demands lots of time to chill out and for this Verbena Spa have created the ultimate girl-friendly space (of course, men are also welcome) a large room chock full of squishy, squashy sofas, a host of reading matter should words run out (hardly), a bar and a small and discreet beauty products shop.

An then there's the beauty treatments. Elemis and Anne Semonin are the products of choice and from top-to-toe there's not a bit that can't be buffed, rubbed, scrubbed or polished.

Food at the Spa
Afternoon is one of the favourite meals in Britain righ now and especially when in beautiful surroundings like the Verbena Spa at the Feversham Arms Hotel. Afternoon Tea isn't the only food on offer at Verbena Spa, there are drinks and patisserie served all day and a range of savoury dishes at lunchtime. Water , iced teas, smoothies and juices are also available from the bar in the relaxation area. After all the pampering, there was the highlight of the day, the afternoon tea. Tea can be taken in the hotel or in the spa but the chance to sink in to the squashy sofa, dressed only in bathrobes and all scrubbed, polished and glowing is irresistible.

Afternoon tea consists of tiny smoked salmon, egg and ham sandwiches, denude of crust made up the top layer of Afternoon tea. Scones with fruity jam and clotted cream and assortment of cakes and tarts were received with relish and disappeared embarrassingly quickly as well as generous pots of tea.

Update: April 2013. The Spa continues to be one of my favourites, on my recent visit I had a lunch rather than afternoon tea, again it was excellent and excellent value for money.

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As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for review purposes. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.