Luxury spa retreats in Cumbria for a full escape

The consensus

Armathwaite Hall sits on a 400-acre estate on the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake near Keswick, dog-friendly throughout and built around a spa whose 16-metre infinity pool looks straight out over the lake to the fells beyond. Alongside the infinity pool, the spa runs to a hydrotherapy pool, sauna, aroma room, steam room and outdoor hot tub, and rooms start from around £211 a night. Both TripAdvisor and the independent Hotel Guru review are consistently positive, and the spa and its infinity-pool view are the single most repeated highlight across reviews — nothing resembling a significant, recurring complaint turned up in the review sampling here, which is unusual enough among spa hotels on this coast to be worth noting plainly rather than dressing up further. It's also one of the better-established venues on the voucher platforms, with packages listed directly through both Buyagift and Red Letter Days.

Sourced from TripAdvisor, The Hotel Guru — how we rate venues

The consensus

The Salutation occupies a 17th-century building right in the centre of Ambleside, a couple of minutes' walk from Lake Windermere, and its Elemis-branded Waterfall Spa is consistently the part reviewers single out: an indoor pool, outdoor fountain spa, steam room, sauna and ice fountain, plus treatment rooms running facials, hot stone massage and aromatherapy from around £80. Some of the 70 rooms come with their own private hot tub, which is the detail that pushes this from "nice hotel" into gift-worthy territory. Breakfast and the spa are the two most-praised elements across independent reviews, and staff are generally described as attentive. It's worth being upfront that this is a well-run boutique spa hotel rather than a grand country-house resort — a handful of reviews mention tired décor in parts of the building, and at least one notably negative review described the staff as unwelcoming, which stands out against an otherwise strong track record. Of the venues in this guide, it's the most accessible on price without giving up a genuine spa experience.

Sourced from TripAdvisor, Ambleside Salutation Hotel & Spa

The consensus

Gilpin Hotel & Lake House is a family-run, AA Five Red Star, Relais & Châteaux property near Windermere, holding Two MICHELIN Keys and home to the Michelin-starred SOURCE restaurant alongside the more casual Gilpin Spice. Its private Spa Suites and Spa Lodges each come with their own sauna, jacuzzi and steam room, and the Jetty Spa Experience package pairs a treatment with private pool use; classic bedrooms start from around £295 a night in summer, with Spa Suites from around £890. TripAdvisor rates it 4.7 out of 5 across close to 2,500 reviews, and the independent Good Hotel Guide covers it favourably too — the overwhelming majority of feedback is glowing on welcome, staff and setting. It isn't flawless, though: a small number of more recent reviews describe an unwelcoming check-in experience, and a few guests have raised maintenance niggles or questioned value for money against the price, worth weighing against the otherwise strong consensus.

Sourced from TripAdvisor, Good Hotel Guide