Rudding Park
Looking for a luxury spa break in Yorkshire? Follow in the footsteps of generations of wellness-seekers and head to healing Yorkshire’s healing Harrogate for a day or stay at the multi-award-winning Rudding Park. The Rooftop Spa and designer Spa Garden are a delight and there’s fab food, great golf and radiant rooms to match.
The lowdown
Rudding Park is a luxury spa hotel in Follifoot, North Yorkshire, a 10-minute cab ride from Harrogate train station which is a breezy three-hour train journey from London Kings Cross.
The classic Grade I listed resort sits in over 300 acres and has two golf courses and its own charming chapel.
This privately-owned hotel has a cared-for, unstuffy feel and staff are friendly and eager to help. With a golden stone Georgian core, and sympathetic modern extensions, rooms are gently contemporary and range from traditional, comfortable spaces with fresh fabrics, to spacious suites with flower-filled terrace gardens, balconies, and the comfiest of beds. Spa Suites have underfloor heating and their own private steam rooms too.
The spa can be reached through the hotel’s colourful library, or by heading outside, via the pretty gardens. Set over three floors, the modern and award-winning destination spa has a lovely sense of scale, and light floods in through full height windows throughout the spa. Facilities include everything from a serene 17-metre indoor pool to a large outdoor hydrotherapy pool and the full complement of heat experiences, plus some more niche wellness facilities.
There are plenty of stylish and imaginative relaxation spaces, and the beautifully designed rooftop spa garden which comes with its own hot tub, sauna and relaxation cabin, plus plenty of sun loungers.
Dining is a decadent affair too, with three good restaurants to choose from, including the new immersive dining experience at FIFTY TWO (see below and check out our Reel Review on Instagram).
Spavellous for
A group spa break, golf and spa escape, babymoon, , foodie spa break, a spa-cation, solo spa stay, special celebration spa stay.
Spa info
The huge architecturally designed spa is a lovely light space and looks brand new despite having been open for over seven years. Spread over three shiny floors, its high-ceilinged corridors and generous use of glass give a sense of calming luxury as soon as you enter the spa building.
Inside you’ll find a serene 17-metre pool, a whole range of heat experiences, nine treatment rooms and several multi-sensory relaxation rooms. Venturing outside you’ll reach the beautiful spa garden and large hydrotherapy pool, a new luxury cabana which is perfect for groups of up to ten, and two new secluded Scandinavian style hot tubs.
Along with the more usual heat experiences like saunas, steam rooms and experience showers, there’s an innovative Sunlight Therapy Room and Oxygen Therapy Pod.
The show-stopping outdoor hydrotherapy pool has room for 20+ people with plenty of space to relax on loungers nearby, which is lucky as the spa is popular and can get busy at peak times. There’s a decent amount of lounging space in the Spa Garden too if you fancy some time away from the spa action to catch some rays or enjoy a drink from the bar.
To give an idea of the size of the place, the spa has an interactive map to help guests navigate their way around and a helpful locker band scanner to remind you of your number if your mind goes blank when you return to the spacious changing rooms.
Access to the various spa areas depends on the type of spa day or spa break you’ve booked, and whether it includes a treatment (bookings including a 50+ minute treatment enable access to the Escape Zone relaxation areas).
The main spa is open from 6.30am – 10.30pm; 7.30am – 9.30pm for the Roof Top Spa.
The spa facilities are adult only (over 18s or 16s accompanied by an adult).
Children can use the indoor swimming pool between 9.30am – 10.30am and 4pm – 5pm daily.
Spa facilities:
Rudding Park’s spa facilities are spread across three floors.
The Ground Floor, where you’ll find the main Spa Reception, is home to:
The indoor swimming pool – a serene, light-flooded 17m pool with access to a terrace. The pool is filled with water sourced directly from the park’s grounds and the space transforms into an ambiently-lit oasis after dark.
Aromatic Juniper Log Sauna – with direct access to the outdoors and bucket shower for those looking to practise contrast therapy, alternating hot and cold experiences.
Bucket shower – offering a refreshing/freezing cold drench (and entertainment for any onlookers!)
Mud Rasul – a steamy private room that you and up to three spa buddies can book to treat your skin to some Moorish mud magic.
There’s also a Manicure, Pedicure and Make Up Bar, plus a Hair Studio to put the finishing touches on your spa visit. And a carefully curated shop selling a selection of bright and beautiful gifts and homewares.
Horto café can also be found on this floor, offering fresh in-robe drinking and dining – see below.
Head up to the first floor for the award-winning Roof Top Spa and the horticulturalist-designed Roof Top Spa Garden.
The Roof Top Spa and its Garden, with their various pools and heat experiences, are where the main spa action happens.
Hydrotherapy Pool – at the heart of the spa is the impressive Hydrotherapy Infinity Pool overlooking the gardens. It’s the perfect place to kick back as you bubble, jet and lounge yourself to a state of blissful relaxation.
Panoramic Sauna – looking out to the infinity pool area, this good-sized sauna is infused with seasonal scents and hosts the Aufguss sessions (see below).
Tepidarium – with steam infused with herbs sourced from Rudding Park’s own Kitchen Garden.
Sunlight Therapy Room – don’t worry if the sun isn’t shining when you visit, you can still catch some rays courtesy of this feel-good room filled with loungers and simulated sunlight.
Oxygen Therapy – another innovative wellness feature is the Oxygen Pod which offers the benefits of purified air and dry salt inhalation as well as having increased oxygen levels.
Luxury Steam Room – so called due to its impressive domed mosaic ceiling, this is a lovely place to enjoy the steam while it works to clarify skin and aid any congestion.
Ice Fountain – delivers crushed ice to massage into your skin, providing a welcome rapid cool-down after a sauna/steam session, boosting circulation.
Foot Spa – take a seat and pop your feet into the alternating hot and cold bubbling waters of the foot spa while you relax as the bubbles soothe away any aches and boost circulation.
Experience Showers – with music, coloured lights and a variety of effects from Warm Tropical Rain to a fresh Cool Mist.
Bar – serving drinks to spa guests in the Spa Garden and hydrotherapy pool.
The Roof Top Spa Garden includes:
Sun Deck – enjoy relaxing with a glass of something refreshing while watching the gently swaying wild grasses and flowers.
Spa Bath – an inviting sunken bubbling bath overlooking the spa garden with ambient lighting after dark.
Garden Sauna Cabin – offering aroma-infused dry heat while you enjoy views of the spa garden.
Tranquillity cabin – with adjustable, heated recliners. A perfect place to escape to, especially on cooler days.
Treatments Rooms and the Escape Zone.
Rudding Park has twelve treatment rooms, including two couple’s rooms and a VIP couple’s room with a super-sized copper bathtub.
Guests who have a treatment booked also have post-treatment access to the multi-sensory relaxation rooms in the Escape Zone:
The Visual Relax Room – where you can sink into the squishy seats and drift away with soothing projected scenes of coast and countryside.
The Audio Relax room which, as the name suggests, uses sound to take your relaxation to the next level.
Relax – a silent and cosy candlelit space for deep relaxation on comfy loungers.
Mind – a stylish space like a calm adult playroom, with comfy reading chairs, a carefully curated wall of wellness and colouring books, and pots of coloured pencils to unleash some mindful creativity.
Treatment highlights
There are plenty of options for spa days and part days at Rudding Park, ranging from morning sessions to starlight ones, with most including a choice of treatment from the core treatment menu. Guests can add to this from the full treatment menu which includes a good range of Natura Bissé body treatments and facials targeting different wellness goals and skin concerns. Bestsellers include the De-stress and Energise Massage and the firming Diamond Energy Facial.
Pregnancy treatments are also available, and the spa offers Made for Life treatments created for people who are living with, or beyond, cancer.
Couples can opt to book the VIP treatment room to enjoying the Time for Two Bath Ritual in the large round copper tub, an indulgent bathing experience followed by a massage for two.
With such an extensive range of spa packages and facilities on offer, the options can look a little confusing, so we suggest calling the helpful spa team if you need any clarification.
I was booked in for the intriguing sounding Quirogolf massage. I’d never tried this Natura Bissé treatment before and was keen to experience its golf ball induced bliss. The tension-relieving treatment is a similar concept to a hot stone massage, but it uses golf balls instead of stones to deliver pressure deep into muscles to improve circulation and ease tension.
My therapist collected me from the plant-filled treatment reception area and led me to the large VIP Treatment Room, with its two wide and comfy massage tables, shower and large round copper bath.
Once she’d been through the health consultation and checked in with me about my preferred massage pressure and any areas of tension, she left the room while I got undressed and made myself comfortable on the heated massage table.
The treatment started with some guided breathwork and lavender oil inhalation to set the relaxing scene.
The therapist applied Peppermint and Eucalyptus infused Fitness Dry Oil and used moderate pressure to start massaging my back, paying particular attention to my shoulders and upper back area. She then introduced the golf balls. Surprisingly, I wasn’t sure of the exact point at which they were introduced as they are used as an extension of the therapist’s hands and didn’t feel at all hard and golf ball like. The massage felt simultaneously effective and soothing, and it wasn’t long before I could feel myself starting to drift off to sleep (no doubt aided by post-lunch energy dip).
Once my back had been soothed to a tee, the therapist asked me to turn over to treat my front to the same tension-taming treatment, removing the cover from one side at a time then finishing with a cooling cryo gel.
I’d never had a treatment quite like it before and, although it felt gentler than I had anticipated, it was the perfect balance between soothing and effective.
After the treatment had finished, signalled by a couple of chimes, I was left to get dressed and directed back to the Escape Zone where I made a beeline for the ultra-comfy ergonomic loungers in the Relax Room to continue enjoying the benefits of the treatment.
Spa add-ons
Alongside the impressive array of core spa facilities, there are several add-on spa activities you can enjoy, including Aufguss, Woodland Hot Tubs, a Rasul and the cool new Cabana, which is bookable for groups of up to ten people.
Aufguss
Rudding Park hosts Aufguss sessions where their resident Sauna Master performs this German-originated multi-sensory ritual, using a towel to distribute hot air and essential oils inside the sauna. Designed to intensify the sauna experience, it aims to promote relaxation as well as provide multisensory entertainment.
I enjoyed a toasty group Aufguss session with award-winning resident Aufguss champ, Jena.
The Spa offers complimentary 15-minute sessions which involves the Sauna Master performing a kind of towel spinning dance to distribute essential oils, released from ice balls melted on the sauna’s stove. The choreographed towel-whirling is set to music, with three tunes corresponding to three different fragrance releases with blends of lavender, tea tree oil and ylang ylang. A fun addition for sauna lovers who can close their eyes to transport themselves to the warm breezy climes of a French lavender field or Spanish orange grove.
I also checked out the new, private Woodland Spring Bathing experience, set in two clearings in a wooded area near the hydrotherapy pool. Two Scandinavian style wooden tubs can be booked for individual or group use (up to four or six people depending on the tub), and you get to enjoy the experience for an hour.
Each Scandinavian-style wooden tub is filled with natural spring water from the Hotel’s own borehole and heated to an inviting 36 degrees. Refreshments are provided, along with a magnesium bath bomb and a mud facial mask, and each tub has its own shower.
I really enjoyed the peaceful experience of soaking in the tub while enjoying the muscle-relaxing benefit of the magnesium and the skin-smoothing mud mask. The tubs offer a peaceful place to enjoy some mindful nature bathing, and I recommend them as a good option for a solo spa activity as well as for groups.
Golf is big at Rudding Park with two courses – the 18-hole Hawtree Course and the 6-hole Repton Short Course. Plus, a twenty bay Trackman Driving Range complete with robot ball collectors.
The Golf Centre offer beginners’ sessions too, including for kids, and the whole place has a friendly inclusive feel. On Fridays they crank the music up and get pizzas in for some Friday night golf fever at their popular Range Nights.
Gym
The hotel currently has two gyms – one for members of the spa and the other for hotel guests. While not quite on a par with the impressive spa, the small residents’ gym has enough to get your fit fix if that’s your thing, with cardio equipment and weights. And there are plans for a new members’ club with a gym at Rudding Park’s Golf Centre, so watch this space!
Rooms
There are 90 comfortable and contemporary rooms and suites housed in the original hotel building and throughout the equally appealing modern wing. Each has a king or superking bed. Large suites are available, with pretty patio terraces, complete with tables and sun loungers, and there are bunk and interconnecting rooms for families.
The decadent Spa Suites have showers that double up as a private steam room. I stayed in one of these, Room 202 in the Follifoot Wing, a large and luxurious room furnished with a super comfy super king bed, desk and seating area. I loved the bright colour pops in the fresh furnishings, the private patio garden, smart bathroom with stand-alone bath (and tub-side TV!) plus the Molten Brown products and little luxury wellness touches like the pillow menu to ensure a great night’s sleep.
Wining and Dining
FIFTY TWO
I was lucky enough to be staying at Rudding Park shortly after the opening of its new immersive dining restaurant, FIFTY TWO, and joined a dozen other diners to enjoy its original, entertaining take on a fine dining tasting menu experience.
Hosted by Head Chef Adam Degg and his team, the experiential evening takes you on a gustatory journey, from drinks in the Kitchen Garden, to delicious dessert accompanied by a guest-selected playlist in the new contemporary dining space.
Not wanting to give too much away, FIFTY TWO is a unique multisensory experience that’s as much interactive culinary theatre as it is gourmet dining. And any up-for-it guests are invited to don an apron and join in the fun in the open kitchen.
Each innovative course is prepared, assembled and served from a counter at the front of the restaurant, with guests facing the culinary cabaret while food is piped, poured, and seared in front of their eyes. Generously portioned dishes surprise and delight, featuring locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, including many from the hotel’s own thriving Kitchen Garden.
Ex Great British Menu Chef Degg is on a mission to challenge pre-conceptions, as well as delight taste buds, creating twisted takes on classic dishes. On the night I visited, diners were pleasantly surprised by the taste of sweetbreads that accompanied the succulent salt aged lamb saddle, and converted to the taste of eel in an original, smoky take on Eel, Pie and Mash ‘without the pie’, served with a rich parsley beurre blanc. Other stand-out courses included the pillowy fresh fermented potato bread (it’s worth booking just for this!), and the Waterford Farm Pork Terrine with mustard, garden pickles and tarragon.
A vegetarian menu is also available, and guests can choose a wine, cocktail or non-alcoholic drink paring to accompany the nine-course menu. I should also add that portion sizes were reassuringly generous, so there’s no fear of coming away hungry as well as happy!
Horto, the second dining option, is in the spa building and is a smart but casual restaurant where guests can dine in their robes until the early evening, when it becomes a robe-free zone. As the name suggests, it has a natural theme, with wood, botanical prints and mirrors that reflect light from the full height windows.
The menu changes throughout the day, with lunch menu favourites including salad bowls, the popular focaccia Horto Club sandwich, and several vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. I enjoyed a Buffalo chicken burger followed by homemade Roast Vanilla Ice Cream. Come evening, Horto has a more grown-up, but still relaxed, feel with menu items to match like a Seared Cod with a Smoked Mussel Sauce and a Lavender Honey Glazed Rack of Lamb for two to share.
Rudding Park’s main restaurant, the Clocktower Brasserie, transitions from buzzy breakfast room to a sophisticated dining space come evening, serving beautifully presented modern British classics under a pink chandelier centrepiece.
Open seven days a week, its large south facing terrace comes into its own to offer alfresco drinking and dining during the summer months. There’s also a private dining room next to the Clocktower Brasserie seating up to 14 guests.
why so spavellous?
It’s fair to say I was wowed by Rudding Park – the spa facilities, the gardens, the room and the FIFTY TWO experience were all exceptional, not to mention how box-fresh the spa feels, despite being over seven years old. Rudding Park is a lovely all-rounder and takes a relaxing break to the next level with its supersized spa and pretty spa garden. The grounds are a bonus too, as are the golf facilities – if you like that kind of thing – and the location makes it an excellent base for exploring Harrogate and beyond.
The three good dining options mean that there’s no need to leave the hotel during your stay, and FIFTY TWO is a unique, top-notch experience if you’re looking for something original, special and fun.
The immaculate spa works well in all seasons with plenty of spa facilities inside and out. It’s great for groups too, with a friendly social vibe. And there’s even someone at the hotel who can help you to arrange a perfect proposal if you’re looking to pop the question.
The extensive spa facilities mean that there’s plenty of space to move around and keep entertained for a full spa day, enjoying the various pools, heat experiences, treatment rooms and relaxation areas. And the pretty Rooftop Spa Garden has holiday vibes when the sun’s out. Plus, having a restaurant in the spa building is a bonus too as it means you don’t have to changed out of your spa robe for lunch.
It really is a destination spa that’s worth travelling for, and if you do decide to go, I recommend booking for a couple of nights as a single night is really too short to do the experience justice.
Feedback from other guests and members I spoke with was positive too. The nearest thing I heard to complaints were 1) a member laughing at the fact there’s no dedicated place to put her bike, yet there’s a helipad for people arriving by chopper, and 2) a member saying that some evenings can get ‘quite lively with people enjoying a drink in the pool’.
spavellous tips
Consider treating yourself to dinner at FIFTY TWO – you’ll need to make a reservation ahead but it’s worth it! Perfect for a unique experience or special occasion celebration.
If you don’t have a specific date in mind, it’s worth looking out for special offers by following Rudding Park on social media. They recently ran one for solo spa stays where they ditched the single room supplement, and they run similar offers throughout the year.
If you’re wanting to have a treatment (recommended!) you’ll need to be booked in advance as demand is high!
It’s worth being aware the kids’ swim times in the indoor swimming pool.
If the spa’s the star for you, consider booking a Spa Suite for a luxurious stay near the spa building for extra Spavellous vibes.
Spa Goers say...
‘We go to spas A LOT, and this is our absolute favourite UK spa hotel’
‘Exceptional spa, accommodation, food and staff’
‘Worth travelling for’
‘There’s a real 5 Star quality about the place and the spa is amazing’
‘The spa can get busy but it’s so big that there’s always somewhere that’s got space’