1

Skylark only includes hotels that meet our stamp of approval. Our editorial review for this one isn’t ready yet — but we’re working on it! Below is the hotel’s own description.The city and its stories reveal an intriguing insight into Bath and its many historical influences. Discover a city shaped over centuries by warrior-kings and merchant corporations, re-imagined by the vision of unconventional gamesters and eccentric architects; all of which culminated in its global recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.The only hotel in Britain where you can wallow in naturally heated mineral water from Bath’s famous underground springs, this magnificent 18th-century Georgian mansion transforms into an equally magnificent modern hotel on the inside. Walking in is like stepping from the past directly into the future. But in the spa, which takes its design inspiration from the Romans who founded Bath, a toga wouldn’t look out of place among the columns and mosaics. The Gainsborough is a true luxury hotel, offering numerous spa treatments and a wealth of fine dining options, and beautifully unadorned Georgian interiors allow the towering ceilings and massive windows to speak for themselves. The rooms are decorated in restful blues and browns, boasting big beds and luxury toiletries, but if you really want to splash out—ahem—bag one of the three Bath Spa suites, where tubs have three taps: hot, cold, and natural thermal water.

 

 

 

You May Also Like!

 

 

How did it strike you on arrival?A magnificent 18th-century Georgian mansion from the outside transforms into a magnificent modern hotel on the inside. Walking in is like stepping from the past directly into the future. Knowing what’s to come—spa treatments at the only hotel in the UK with direct access to naturally heated spring water from Bath’s famous ancient underground springs—makes it even more enticing.What’s the crowd like?This is for those with deep pockets, fetishes for historic England, and a desire to experience some of the most luxurious pampering available in the UK. There are a ton of high end travelers from Southeast Asia and beyond, lots of lovers here for romantic trips and intimate proposals, and guests simply here to experience spa treatments to die for, famous for healing properties utilized by the Romans way back when. This is a luxury hotel that does not fudge on the details, everyone here knows and expects what they’re paying for.The good stuff: Tell us about the rooms.The rooms are smart, decorated in duck-egg blue and gold with large comfortable double beds after a 2015 refurbishment, all in different shapes and sizes. The best thing about them might just be the elegant Georgian walls, uncluttered by bad art, and the massive windows and towering ceilings, creating a feeling of space.We’re craving some deep, restorative sleep. They got us?The Queen sized bed is big enough, the mattress firm and the pillows plentiful. As you’d expect all the sheets are soft as lambs wool. Sleep came easily.
How about the little things, like mini bar, or shower goodies. Any of that worth a mention?Complimentary mini-bars, like the one here, always go down well. The Nespresso coffee machine is fantastic, always better than instant sachets, and the climate control panel was easily navigable—something that may seem minor but when those panels are complicated they never fail to annoy. Best of all though was the Roberts Radio, a modern wireless inside with perfect classic looks on the outside. That’s what goes in my bag first if I was the thieving type. Oh and all the Asprey toiletries.Please tell us the bathroom won’t let us down.Underfloor heating in the bathroom was a treat. The Asprey branded products were plentiful and soft on the skin, as you’d expect from a hotel with an incredible spa. Marble floors, a freestanding bath and generous full size mirror alongside the supersized bathrobes are all big pluses.Room service: Worth it?Room service is quick with a menu packed with comfort food, which after a session at the spa and a desire to get your calorie intake back up. Even cooler is the fact that I could order the signature Gainsborough cheese & bacon burger with perfect fries as if it was being served in the restaurant. Not cheap at ÂŁ24, but large and so so good.Staff: If you could award one a trophy, who gets it, and why?The spa therapist gets my vote. The 45-minute aqua massage I was given in the collonaded bathing pool beat almost any other massage I’ve ever had. My body twisted and glided in the mineral rich and naturally heated water supported by an expert who manipulated my spine, loosened my hips and propelled me, arms outstretched, through the water. Truly incredible.
Anything stand out about other services and features?The spa and treatments as above. This is after all what you come here for. It makes a big difference too that the Gainsborough’s treatment rooms are uncluttered by the usual detritus of faux serenity in most spas, there are no Balinese lanterns and the like, just simple, softly lit limestone and a beautiful atrium right in the centre. Plus the fine dining restaurant headed up by Dan Moon is well worth a visit, its menu using fresh, seasonal and locally sourced ingredients.Bottom line: worth it?The spa treatments, comfort and the fact that it really does live up to its luxury billing makes the Gainsborough most definitely somewhere to remember.

For Scots, it’s a source of pride that we stopped the Roman Empire at the Antonine Wall. We kept our roads wiggly, our plaid coarse, and Tommy Sheridan had to travel to Manchester for a decent orgy. But sadly it has also led to a widespread belief among the English that we never discovered the joy of washing.

To see what the fuss is all about, I headed to that most Roman of cities in England, Bath. It’s a pretty place – like a poor man’s Edinburgh. It was particularly gorgeous last weekend, leaves falling from the mighty plane trees in the Circus, the Palladian masterpiece of its Georgian architects.

I was off to the new Gainsborough Bath Spa, down in the hollow by the Avon where the sacred spring can be found. The hotel is named after the painter (a poor man’s Henry Raeburn, he lived on the Circus), and it’s very luxurious. It is home to Britain’s only private hot-spring-fed spa. Remodelled from the old art school, its three buildings and 99 rooms sit round a covered atrium containing the mineral pool.

Swimming on the roof tops: a view of Thermae Bath Spa.

Swimming on the roof tops: a view of Thermae Bath Spa.

This is, without doubt, so lovely and decadent that it must be like the Roman empire just before the fall. Handed a posy of rock salt infused with essential oils – your state of being is translated into a mood: euphoria! tranquillity! insensate! – you hold this to your nose as you pad among the naturally heated pools, sauna and steam room, all deserted but for the occasional respectful attendant who could be an extra from Spartacus.

It’s almost, but not quite, too much. YTL, the Malaysian construction conglomerate that owns the hotel, tapped the spring that feeds the Thermae Bath Spa next door, which it also operates. The water you bathe in fell as rain on surrounding countryside 10,000 years ago, sank to a depth of more than 2km, and is steeped in 42 minerals, including a great deal of iron.

These waters rise naturally through the Pennyquick fault. It is only 100 yards to where in 836BC legend says the exiled prince Bladud took a hot mud bath with his pigs and found himself cured of leprosy. That in turn led to the Romans building their baths, one of the pre-eminent historical sites in Britain. It’s one of the great scenes – the water rich with mineral colours lapping on the ruins, still steaming the cooling air.

Just to sit by those waters and imagine people there 2,000 years ago, pampering themselves in the same way we do, in water that fell when mankind was just beginning to discover agriculture, is a pretty good way of spending a day. Bath’s historians have reconstructed the model of a man from a set of bones they discovered. (We were less impressed by some of Bill Bryson’s commentary on the audioguide: “This is the face of Minerva. I’ve never really liked the look of Roman women.”)

Bubbling up: the city's stunning Roman baths.

Bubbling up: the city’s stunning Roman baths. Photograph: Colin Hawkins

Of course you don’t have to stay at the super-expensive Gainsborough to see this. Nor do you have to stay to enjoy the waters. The Thermae baths on the other side of the street are much more public (although still not cheap, at £32 during the week, £35 at the weekend) but the water is the same and they have a spectacular rooftop pool with its incredible views to the hills where the rain once fell.

And yet… And yet… for the £242 the Gainsborough charges for the cheapest room midweek, you do get a bottle of Billiecart Salmon champagne waiting in an incredibly comfortable and beautifully proportioned Georgian room, you can get 20% off a spa treatment by booking direct, and there is one free 60-minute massage thrown in. (If you are rich-rich-rich you can have one of three rooms where the mineral water is tapped directly into the room.)

Because, then there are the treatments. I had the Magnesium Wrap, which sounds painful – but not so disturbing as the aquatic body therapy in which someone pulls you through the water, plunging you under and stretching your muscles. I fell into the hands of Kabir – and I won’t go on about it in case anyone reading this knows me and has to visualise me being rubbed down – but it was the best massage I have ever had. I could drive back home in fog and heavy traffic, arrive calm and not once hit my head against the steering wheel in frustration at not having taken the train.

And as it happens, the Gainsborough seems to be entirely run by fellow Scots – one of them, Brian Benson, showed just what the Romans have done for us, too: “I can’t make any claims for the water’s healing powers,” he said. “But when I’ve been in it, I don’t need to use any soap when shaving.”

 

 

 

 

 

The Gainsborough Bath Spa Restaurant History and Reviews The Gainsborough Bath Spa Restaurant History and Reviews The Gainsborough Bath Spa Restaurant History and Reviews The Gainsborough Bath Spa Restaurant History and Reviews FASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotelsFASTNEWS top hotelsFASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotels FASTNEWS top hotels

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here