Tour d’Angleterre – Midlife Lately

So from Bristol we headed not North, but South. You see an old marketing friend of mine has recently moved to Panda London. If you don’t know Panda it’s a bedding company launched in 2015 with a mission to create a range of bedding that’s as good as Egyptian cotton and goose down but less harmful to animals and the environment. They found a solution in bamboo and invested in making the very best products. On top of the eco benefits, they discovered that bamboo is temperature regulating and so it keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter.

They sell directly to customers but they’re also being discovered by some of the best hotels in the UK and one of those is the highly esteemed Boringdon Hall in Devon. Panda have worked with them and British natural spa brand Gaia to develop a Gaia menopause break. They invited us along to try it out so let me tell you all about it.

Boringdon Hall is the most beautiful of historic houses, so old that it appears in the Domesday book. It was a friary until Henry VIII handed it to the Earl of Southampton after the Dissolution. Elizabeth I is said to have stayed there and it was certainly favoured by Sir Francis Drake. In fact in 1587 a banquet was held there to celebrate Drake’s raid on the Spanish fleet at Cadiz and all of the famous buccaneers attended, including Sir Walter Raleigh. So you can feel history pulsing around you as soon as you arrive.

We stayed in one of the most modern Wellness rooms which are up behind the old hall with a view for miles. The first part of the menopause retreat was a Gaia gift box with £280 of contents that included packs of Ancient & Brave’s collagen and biome powders along with other supplements, a Gaia sleep spray, a Panda bamboo sleep mask and discounts on nutrition support programmes. The room is equipped with yoga mats and wellbeing books as well as lots of different types of Gaia aromatherapy products for you to use while you’re there.

I was delighted to have a reason to dress up, I’ve decided that this life of being driven to hotels where I can wear all of my favourite dresses with heels is the one I was born to.

Karen Millen dress AW18; Boden velvet sandals AW08; Jigsaw clutch AW16

The Gaia menopause break includes dinner on both nights, the first at Boringdon’s Michelin starred restaurant Àclèaf. You sit up in the minstrels’ gallery looking down at the old hall where the Drake and Raleigh banquet would have been held. Dinner is a four course tasting menu with surprises served in between – this was the menu while we were there, you choose a dish from each row.

I had to smile when each course came out, so beautifully presented, because I always know that Mal’s panicking slightly inside at the size of the portions.

But with the surprise additions in between there was no need to worry about being hungry at the end of it. The combination of texture, flavour, aroma and even sound as you bit into each piece was phenomenal.

The chef is Scott Paton and he’s a genius. I loved the fact that he didn’t take it all too seriously and there were additions like this little puzzle to complete which dictated how they would prepare your dessert. The pieces you choose apparently tell the kitchen what balance of sweet, salt and spice you like.

And so we went to bed and had our first experience of Panda London bedlinen which truly does feel great on the skin because it’s silky and soft.

The next morning, after breakfast (cooked to order and not congealing in trays thank goodness), I was booked in for my 90 minute Gaia menopause treatment. It included a foot scrub and massage, followed by a back and shoulder massage, finishing off with a cooling, calming Jade facial. I think I’ve had fewer than five massages in my whole life so I’m not an expert but I was glad that it wasn’t just a gentle aromatherapy one. The masseuse worked properly on my muscles and the music and fragrances did manage to work on quieting my ever racing mind which is a feat.

From there we went into the main Gaia Spa. It’s adults only, so there’s none of the shrieking that ruins so many hotel pools and the indoor pool is deliberately kept at a warm 30 degrees which is right for a midlife body that is there to relax. There’s a hydrotherapy pool too where you can swim out through a flap into the garden and find yourself bobbing in warm water looking out at the Devon countryside.

The heat rooms run through the usual Finnish sauna, salt steam and experience showers but the laconium, the gentler herbal sauna, is the one I kept going back to because you can sit in it for ages without feeling as if you’re being cooked. There are hot tubs on the patio and hanging relaxation nests that you can curl up into like an overgrown child. It wasn’t too busy which was great, there were two other couples, a mother and daughter group as well as a few midlife friends making a day of it.

Swimsuit – an emergency bargain en route because I’d forgotten one!

And there was warm sunshine, for us it felt like summer.

We had to spend some time working in the afternoon but when it was over, there was a terrace with waiter service and a very welcome G&T.

Boden linen trousers SS22; M&S linen waistcoat SS22; Boden slingbacks and clutch SS19

We changed for dinner and my skin felt fresh and glowy. In the shower it struck me that we don’t do this kind of break very often any more. When the boys were little our whole aim was to get away and relax together like this. Now if we go away we always look for stimulation and high activity but sometimes it’s good just to kick back isn’t it?

Me+Em jumpsuit SS24

Dinner on the second night was in Boringdon’s Mayflower restaurant and I was expecting standard hotel food which I never enjoy. However it was exceptionally good. I’m about to dig into the creamiest burrata and basil oil starter here, followed by a Wagyu steak cottage pie and the most delicious crème brulée I’ve ever had (not a night for thinking about calories!).

And so that was it, sadly we had to head off early the following morning for our seven hour drive home. You always know that I’ll write an honest review and there’s only one small criticism that I’d make. We were there for a Sunday and Monday night and I wondered if perhaps they had a special offer on. You see there was a clear divide between guests. Most that we spoke to were clearly there for a special treat which is what a place like Boringdon Hall is for. A scattering of other couples/groups were a bit loud and obnoxious in the bar… shuffling around in their socks in the evening… one was wearing pyjamas for breakfast.

I might sound snooty when I say this but I think Boringdon Hall needs to introduce a dress code for the hotel and restaurant areas. I suppose that perhaps because you’re in robes in the spa, some people lose sight of dressing for the restaurants and bar but it matters for others who are there for an occasion. We heard one man mentioning it as he checked out (and then went to pack his bags into a convertible Aston Martin!). I don’t work in the hotel trade but I think expectations perhaps need to be raised at the point of booking for a place of this standard that features Michelin starred dining. Other than that it was such a lovely stay and I must mention the service which was really good. Somehow each staff member seemed to have a dry, English turn of wit which fitted the place really well. You can find details of the Gaia menopause break here.