5 amazing country hotels for a pampering weekend in North Yorkshire

Everything about this Palladian estate near Ripon has been stripped back and reinstated to an exceptionally high standard, from landscaping to head-turning interior design. The Three Graces Spa is currently exclusive to overnight guests (so very peaceful indeed) and boasts a vaulted indoor pool, in/out hydrotherapy pool, a sauna and a snow room. Stellar treatments, prompt lounger service and complimentary post-treatment champagne – best enjoyed on a duvet-clad day bed in the private garden terrace – show how grown-up luxury is done.

Rudding Park is the spot for a sociable spa stay. Hotel guests get complimentary access to the indoor swimming pool and juniper log sauna, while access to the Roof Top Spa and Garden is included if you’ve booked a spa suite or treatment. This is worth doing for the extra amenities – a hydro infinity pool, multiple saunas and steam rooms, a sunlight therapy room, experience showers, whirlpools and four very different relaxation rooms – plus there’s much more space to relax outside, Yorkshire weather permitting. Packages usually include refreshments or a meal at Horto.

This castellated country-house hotel and estate near Ripon offers activities in spades, from outdoor pursuits to a cookery school and glamping. While interiors in the main building are traditional, the more recently built, multi-million-pound Country Club & Spa is quite different. In a modern annexe, the vast indoor pool is surrounded by a circuit of aromatic steam rooms, Finnish, al-fresco and herbal saunas, experience showers and a hydrotherapy pool. Outside, conclude with a dip in the hot tub or natural pool before snuggling into a sheepskin-clad lounge-bed under a heated canopy. Afterwards, top the luxe off with a tasting menu at Samuel’s. Spa access is included in the room rate.

For foodie weekends and walks from the door, the Devonshire Arms by Bolton Abbey tops the list – and the spa, housed in a barn conversion across the road, is a boon. The hotel has also now launched “the Secret Spa”, a cluster of eight bell tents overlooking the Dales, sleeping two and furnished with seating and a log burner, along with refreshments, robes and slippers. Packages include use of the main spa (which features a small indoor pool, a whirlpool and sauna), brunch, lunch or afternoon tea, and in some cases, treatments (from £100 for two, otherwise spa use is included).

In the postcard-pretty town of Helmsley, the Feversham Arms sits somewhere between restored coaching inn, boutique hotel and country house. One of its biggest draws is its heated outdoor pool, which, along with al-fresco seating in the neighbouring terrace, is likened to the Med in sunny weather. Venture a little deeper, and the Verbena Spa is known for its “Heat Experience”, involving a saunarium, aromatherapy room, steam room, showers and foot baths, as well as a two-hour “Sacred Space” ritual, a head-to-toe signature experience to revitalise lockdown-drained bodies (£195).