Cadbury House Spa:
The style and location
Cadbury House Hotel and Spa towers above an ornamental lake and neatly manicured gardens, cutting a dash in the North Somerset countryside. This once private residence is tucked off the M5, 30 minutes outside of Bristol and just 7 miles from Bristol airport, and overlooks the small village of Congresbury.
Built in 1790, Cadbury House has served as a family home, boarding school and a luxury country club. The old part of the hotel, with its brick gables and bay windows, makes quite an impression on you as you roll into the car park.
Tacked onto the side of this characterful older building is a huge contemporary annex, with a winking floor-to-ceiling window. This is the modern part of Cadbury House, added as part of a £26 million renovation under the Doubletree Hilton brand. It’s the heart of the hotel, where 132 bedrooms house all manner of guests and a slick Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill provides much to write home about.
Cadbury House Spa itself is located in a separate building, a short walk from the main building. It’s not highly inconvenient, especially when the weather makes the walk enjoyable. But if it’s raining, it could dampen your spa spirit a touch.
“I stayed at Cadbury House Spa to experience its 1-night Marco Retreat. It included dinner in the Marco Pierre White restaurant, use of the spa facilities, 2 treatments and breakfast the next day.”
Cadbury House Spa:
My room
The warm chocolate cookie you receive as you check-in to the Cadbury House Hotel acts as a delicious precursor of what’s to come. Or, at least, it did for me.
My room was a King Junior Suite, the smallest of the three suites offered at Cadbury House, but was handsome and spacious and came dressed in a sophisticated slate grey, with a mural of the Clifton Suspension Bridge sprung out over the back wall above a king-sized bed.
Clearly, the room was made for a couple: his and hers bathrobes hung in the wardrobe, and the walk-in rainforest shower wasn’t screened off from the rest of the room – intimate and romantic, yes, but maybe a touch too familiar if you’re sharing with your mum or a friend (as I was)!
As well as suites, Cadbury House also offers standard and deluxe rooms, which are similar in size but differ in view: the standard rooms look out at the woodland at the back of the hotel, the deluxe rooms overlook the gardens at the front of the hotel.
My view rolled on for miles out across the Bristol Channel and despite being at the front of the hotel where guests, suppliers and cars are coming and going, it was pin-drop quiet. Which meant my friend and I slept like door mice.
“The warm chocolate cookie you receive as you check-in to the Cadbury House Hotel acts as a delicious precursor of what’s to come.”
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Cadbury House Spa:
The spa facilities
Cadbury House Spa is one of the leading spas in the south of Bristol.
Set on three floors within a purpose-built modern building, The Club and Spa comprises of an indoor 20m swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, outdoor hot tub, outside sun deck and loungers, relaxation zone with beds and loungers, and changing rooms with showers.
There are also six treatment rooms on the first floor, with therapies from Elemis, Pevonia and Jessica nails, a large gym and fitness studios offering a range of classes. There’s also a fitness café/bar called Marconi serving healthy lunches and smoothies.
Naturally, because of its large range of facilities, Cadbury House Spa tends to get busy.
We visited on a Sunday evening and daytime on a Monday and The Club was bubbling: gym members and spa guests enter the spa through the same reception and intermingle in the changing rooms, so there’s an energetic buzz to the start of a spa day here.
Once you sink down to the lower level spa, however, tranquillity descends and you soon forget the hub-bub above you.
The pool is sparkling clean and warm, and it’s easy to find your bliss in the jacuzzi. My favourite part was chilling out in the relaxation room after steaming myself clean in the sauna.
I would’ve loved to dip my 9-5 feet in the outdoor hot tub but, unfortunately, it was always full each time I tried.
Cadbury House Spa:
The treatments
For any treatments, head back upstairs to the first floor and through Bardolino pizzeria (where you’ll enjoy a light lunch, dinner or afternoon tea if you’ve booked one of the different spa day packages).
Admittedly, it’s a touch odd walking past diners in your robe and flip-flops, but once you’re in the private treatment space the memory melts away.
As part of our package – the 1 night Marco Retreat Package – we enjoyed a body renew salt scrub with a mini facial and a hot stone massage. My therapist was warm, knowledgeable and attentive and the therapies eased both my aching muscles and strung-out soul.
The hot stone massage, in particular, rocked my world; I didn’t want it to end. After our treatments we were giving plenty of time to come back to earth again with a fresh glass of water and an unhurried browse at the products our therapists used.
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