Getting a bit of me time is pretty unusual with two preschoolers but recently I was offered the chance to go on a Pamper Day at a local Bannatynes health club. Hmm…let’s think about this for a minute…a day pottering round in a robe with a friend, maybe a bit of a swim or some time in the sauna and steam room and all topped off with a massage. Well, I think I owe it to my loyal readers to do a thorough review of the day, purely to be informative you understand.

You can use the Pamper Day voucher at loads of Bannatyne’s Health Clubs all over the country so my friend and I decided to go to the one closest to us in Birmingham’s Brindley Place which meant parking was in the near by NCP and we had easy access to all the shops and restaurants in the city centre.

When we arrive the receptionist was really friendly and helpful, explaining where everything was and setting us up with our ‘spa bags’ containing our towel, robe and slippers. There’s a small extra charge of £2 for this but you keep the slippers at the end and it saved lugging our own towels in and out of town. As the spa is combined with a gym/healthclub the atmosphere seemed very relaxed and informal.

The changing room and shower area was spacious and well equipped with plenty of lockers, big mirrors and decent hair-dryers and when we headed through to the pool area it wasn’t crowded (even though we went at the weekend) so there were plenty of loungers, space in the sauna and steamroom and none of the usual collisions with more enthusiastic swimmers that often plague my attempts at swimming. If you’re feeling in the mood for something more active than bobbing about in the pool (which I have to confess I wasn’t) you also have full access to the gym and all the exercise classes so you won’t have difficulty filling your time.

After our swim we moved into the spa/treatment area (with was very calm and relaxing, nicely decorated and lit) to have our back, neck and shoulder massage which was the highlight of the day. The staff were really helpful, polite and unobtrusive and my massage was lovely, absolute bliss. They do a variety of other massage and facial treatments as well as things like manicures and spray tans and I’ll definitely go back to try some of those out in the future.

It’s also worth noting that kids are allowed at certain times, the pool is quite shallow and there are baby changing facilities and a child seat in the changing rooms. Combined with the relaxed atmosphere I’d be quite comfortable taking the boys with me so this might make a nice day out for a couple of mums who could look after each others kids while they had their treatments.

The were only a couple of slight negatives. They don’t serve any food on site so you would have to go out to get lunch if you stayed all day, although being in Brindley Place you are surrounded by lots of options for that. We also found that because most of the facilities are shared with the healthclub/gym we felt a bit guilty lazing around in our robes in the communal area while most people were dashing off to spin classes etc (but on the other hand it does mean you have access to gym facilities and classes as well which you don’t always get at a spa). Overall, neither of those things would put me off going again.

You can currently get ‘two for one’ on the pamper day vouchers from Buyagift which makes it £75 for two people to include full use of all the facilities and your choice of a massage or facial which I think is pretty good value.

In summary

Pros:

Relaxing spa/treatment area, good changing facilities, lovely staff and a great massage.

Cons:

No food served on site.

Conclusion:

A good value pamper day for two that would even be suitable for families.

[Throughout April I'm taking part in the A to Z Challenge. This is my post for R. Last time I had a game of I Spy for Q and next time I'll tell you about Sally's Shindig.]

Image: Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Image: anat_tikker / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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