Run of the Mill? Not this Yorkshire Spa
There’s no need to fly to exotic destinations if you’re seeking an authentic hammam experience – head to West Yorkshire’s Titanic Spa instead. Sarah Dawson checks into the UK’s first eco spa for a Royal Hammam Ritual.
A converted textile mill on the edge of the Pennines might seem an unusual location for an award winning eco spa. Named Titanic Mill by the locals due to its size and the year it was built (1911, when the fateful Titanic ship was commissioned), the owners decided to keep the name when they converted this disused textile mill into the splendid carbon neutral spa it is today.
The spa utilises one third of the mill’s area (the other two thirds are privately occupied) and its part industrial part rural location has stunning views of the Pennines. Decorated in earthy hues, with sand coloured carpets and walnut wood throughout, you can tell immediately that the environment is all-important.
But it goes deeper than simple aesthetics. Behind the green, cream and earthy scenes, this is a very sustainable business, and one that continually measures, reduces and acts on ways to reduce its carbon footprint. How does it do this? By using organic and green endorsed spa products, laundering fluffy robes and towels onsite at environmentally low – but effective – temperatures and dishing up healthy locally sourced, seasonal and organic meals.
They’re also big on recycling, using paper cups for the spring water and vegetable dyes for printing; a sustainable heating power unit heats the building, and solar panels provide natural sunlight. And, best of all, the spa has its own natural water source 100 metres below the building (the original water source that powered the Edwardian textile mill), so spa goers can enjoy pure drinking water and an itch-free natural swimming/plunge pool.
After a comfortable train journey from London and a short taxi ride to Huddersfield, I was greeted by a warm and welcoming reception team – and an inviting aroma from the spa’s bistro. It was mid week when I visited but there was a lively atmosphere.
First things first, I joined the ladies who lunch and spa in the buffet lounge, where a mouth-watering selection of locally sourced dishes tempted my taste buds. I liked the laid back dining solution, with an open kitchen, from where tea is served as well as coffee, scones and other refreshments between meals to stave off those post-spa hunger pangs. After enjoying a plate loaded with delicious salad and a Mediterranean vegetable pasta dish, I made my way to my apartment.
Apartment, you ask? Yes, a self-catering stylish mezzanine home-from-home with a fully equipped kitchen, sitting room, upstairs bedroom and bathroom, and a balcony overlooking the Pennines.
Titanic offers an enticing and reasonably priced range of spa experiences, such as ‘Fabulous Fridays’ (£149 pp) and ‘Time to Sparkle’ (from £145 pp). I was on an overnight ‘Simply Spa’ package (from £109 pp), combining the Titanic Heat Experience with two half hour treatments, beginning in the hammam after my heat experience.
In keeping with the earthy influence, I was handed a brown fluffy robe and padded through the double doors into the spa. Based on the ritual of first heating the body then cooling it down, the heat experience area takes you on a sensory journey of deep relaxation, a concept that goes back thousands of years and promises to thoroughly cleanse and beautify the body.
The varied hot and cold rooms plus two hammam treatment rooms are built around a circular structure. A cold treatment should always follow time spent in a hot room, as cooling the soft tissues moderates your body temperature. Each heat experience can be punctuated either by a cold shower, a dip in the plunge pool, or by pulling the chain on a bucket of fresh spring water which enlivens your skin and causes a few startled shrieks!
The heated rooms create different effects on the body. I started in the saunarium (a traditional sauna with a steam infuser, thus making it cooler than your average sauna so you can spend longer in there), followed by a cold shower. I graduated to the crystal steam bath (a humid heat infused with essential oils which is great for the respiratory system), followed by the cold bucket.
The sauna cabin is a Finnish tradition offering intense dry heat. I worked myself up for this and followed it with a very refreshing – and quick – plunge into the icy water pool and a visit to the ice room to scrunch handfuls of crushed ice onto my body. I finished in the aromatherapy room – a 2000 year old Roman tradition. The soothing heated tiled floors, benches and walls offer a dry warm environment – great for perspiring and cleansing the pores and very soothing on the belly when lying on your front.
The foot baths promise to offer a gentle reflexology massage to tired feet – but I didn’t really feel much going on there so I moved on after a five minute burst. Afterwards, I spent a good half hour horizontal on several beanbags in the fabulous relaxation room, complete with low lighting and a simulated fireplace before my Royal Hammam experience.
Having already experienced a very traditional hammam within the souks of Marrakesh (where my skin turned purple from the far too vigorous scrubbing) and another in a luxury spa in Tunisia, I was keen to see how this award winning eco spa in Yorkshire compared.
My lovely therapist, Kim Earle, led me into one of the treatment rooms within the heat experience where I lay down on the heated plinth in the steamy humidity. She cleansed and exfoliated my body with Kiwi soap then applied a mud masque from Hungary to cleanse the upper back and top of my arms. Kim massaged my legs to help improve lymph drainage and then began to move the hot basalt stones (from Hawaii and known for retaining heat for a longer period of time), as I drifted into a deeply relaxed state. The treatment ended with a warm shower of water to remove the masque and soap. Kim had to prise me off the table and into the treatment room for the half hour hot stone back massage. She used ‘musclease’ oil to relieve tension then a cooling gel to ensure that any remaining aches and pains were soothed away.
Afterwards I sunk into the beanbags in the relaxation room and stayed there until I was almost the last in the room, before heading to Club Titanic, the spa’s pool, sauna, steam and gym area (also a members club) with its 15-metre salt regulated swimming pool, hydrozone, steam and sauna rooms.
The pool area is clean and simple – with white walls, potted plants and poolside silver loungers. ‘Green’ certainly doesn’t mean compromise and the Titanic Spa proves that it’s possible to develop and run a spa while minimising the effect on the planet. The pure spa water, which runs beneath the mill, provides delicious cleansing drinking water and swimming in a chemical free pool is blissful.
I particularly enjoyed the delicious organic, locally sourced and seasonal menu and found all members of staff extremely friendly and professional. A visit to Titanic is a real treat – it’s minimalist, green, practical and affordable, yet still manages to be sophisticated.
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Sarah stayed at the Titanic on a Simply Spa overnight break; priced from £109 per person Monday to Friday, which includes the Heat Experience, buffet lunch, a two course evening meal and a hamper breakfast.
For further details and to book visit www.titanicspa.comSarah travelled by train to Huddersfield with the following operators: Southern Rail between Brighton and London Victoria – visit www.southernrailway.com for special offers and to book tickets.Virgin Trains between London Euston and Manchester, Standard single advance from £11.50, First single advance from 34.50. For the best fares book early and travel off-peak www.virgintrains.co.ukFirst TransPennine Express, which runs a frequent service between Manchester and Huddersfield. Fares start from £12.80 return. To find train times and buy tickets on line go to www.tpexpress.co.uk
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