To the Manor Born

I’m in the mood for English countryside. It’s a lucky coincidence that the Cotswold-based Manor House Hotel has just been awarded five black stars in the AA Hotel ratings. Time to dust off the tweed flat cap and get up to some clodhopping capers in a rather splendid rural retreat. On the southern edge of…
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Three is a Magic Number

Award winning luxury in spa form? Sounds like our kind of thing… You know you’re doing well when not one, not two, but three of your spas win awards from the World Luxury Spa Awards. Good job, Jumeirah Group! The global luxury hotel company and member of Dubai Holding boasts (amongst many other equally as…
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La Réserve, Geneva

Swiss efficiency is hard to beat. Within minutes of landing at Geneva airport, I’m speeding down the motorway at 140kmph, only to arrive three minutes later at the gates of La Réserve. It must be the shortest transfer ever, and I like it. But the good first impressions don’t stop there. La Réserve’s lobby is…
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Six Senses Opens Luxury Urban Spa in Paris

Six Senses have opened their first Six Senses Spa in Paris. Six Senses rue de Castiglione is a stunning sanctuary showcasing beautiful design, luxurious treatments and new organic product lines. Rue de Castiglione has been designed to echo the natural world with elements balancing sky, earth and wood. Upon entering the reception area, a stunning…
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All White on the Night: The BCV 24hr Villars Ski Race

It was at this point, having dismounted the gondola at Roc d’Orsay and assumed something approaching a jog to give the cheering crowds a semblance of my racing intent, I mounted my skis and began slaloming down the upper reaches of the course, with a certain panache, I like to think. The snow here was…
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Dolder and Wiser

Recently, aboard an Orient Express train, I met a lady from Zurich. When I told her I was planning a trip to her hometown she asked where I was going to stay. “The Dolder Grand,” I said and she gasped. “Ah, I’ve never been,” she said, “It’s very smart!” Incongruous as this was – we…
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Doing it in Period: Lime Wood Hotel, Hampshire

It was just amazing, I tell my green-tinged boyfriend. Amazing is a selfish word; it gives nothing, but manages to be scattered liberally across conversation. I probably should have taken him and not my mother. Oh well. The transformation of this Georgian house to a luxury getaway was funded by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe through architects…
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Ragaz Spa Offers Three Stages of Spa

The Ragaz Resort Spa in Switzerland is offering the ultimate in Spa treatments as it incorporates three stages of Spa treatments. From massage, steam and sauna, through laser treatments right through to liposuction and plastic surgery. The centre at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz spans over 5,500 square meters and its recently finished facilities include…
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Spa Girl: Yin Yang Goolies

“Want one?” he asks, completely ignoring the fact that I’m laden down with bags from Selfridges and downs the remnants of his glass. “Isn’t it a bit early.” I suggest, to which he looks at his watch, grunts “past eleven,” and signals to the barman for another. Ever since he lost his job he’s been…
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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Spa Girl

Certainly, I would say monogamy is the way forward in any other circumstance, but I’m justifying this on the grounds that everything is above board. We have no secrets: I’ve left Roger. But why, I hear you ask? There are a number of reasons – his refusal to help remortgage Mummy and Daddy out of…
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