This was the delicious buffet that started my week testing a Bluestone Spa Retreat Break. Five days of relaxation and pampering, slightly interrupted for me by the fact that I’d also taken the kids for a family break (the spa break was a bit of an afterthought) but I can imagine how pampering the experience would be if you went solo or with friends. The spa retreat is a great way to boost health and energy levels, in fact if you have a specific health need the experience can be tailored to you.

I arrived at Bluestone Wales on Monday afternoon with the children, one of my close girlfriends Abbi and my adult Nephew Lynton. Mr Purple was unable to come because of work commitments. On arriving at our lodge I was not disappointed, it was lovely, open plan, modern and perfect for our group. I’ll be telling you more about Bluestone, the facilities, accommodation and location in my next blog about our family experience there. For now I want to tell you all about my spa retreat.

On Monday night I attended a welcome meeting in the spa, with a buffet (my kind of welcome). This gave us a chance to meet the team involved in the retreat, the health detectives, yoga teacher and spa manager. They filled us in on their approaches and what would could expect from the week.

During the course of the week I was offered a session with The Health Detectives, a one on one yoga class, a 80 minute spa treatment and as much time as we fancied in the thermal rooms. First on my agenda was my session with The Health Detectives.

I’ll be honest and admit this was a completely new, and somewhat unusual experience for me. However with my ME/CFS symptoms I was eager to see what Lise and Gitti were going to do for me. They use biochemistry, and natural medicine. They used vials of many different substances (see picture above) to do muscle testing and find out what areas are an issue for me.

I was skeptical about the approach as it is outside my experience of medicine, but I tried to keep an open mind. There is definitely more to try than conventional medicine and if it can help with my ME/CFS symptoms I was willing to give it a go. After the testing they suggested  supplements that will be helpful to me. I was given a prescription, and will be trying the supplements to see what difference they make to my health and energy levels. I’ll keep you posted about the results.

Next up was my yoga session. Having always rather fancied myself as a slim, groovy yoga pant clad, calm yoga type I was really looking forward to this and I was not disappointed. The class was tailored to me and my health needs. It was gentle, but challenging enough for me and I particularly enjoyed the breathing techniques. The breathing made me feel really relaxed and calm and I will definitely be using it in my day to day life from now on. I came away feeling really good.

Finally I decided to combine my 80 minute spa treatment with some time in the thermal rooms. I spent a blissful two hours alternating between steam room, sauna, salt room and ice room. Finishing off with an experience shower (with so many jets it was like a full body massage) and some time relaxing on a really comfy bed in the relaxation room. Then my therapist took me to the treatment room, and treated me to back, arm and leg massage and a full facial (my favourite treatment). I left walking on air, and felt more pampered than I have in years. It was truly wonderful.

I would definitely recommend the spa retreat at Bluestone Wales. For £599 per person, for that you get four night accommodation, breakfast, lunch and dinner and all your treatments. I think this is very reasonably priced for this kind of experience. For more information visit the website.

*Disclosure: I was provided with a four night stay and spa retreat in order to write this blog.