Review of Champneys Henlow

To save me writing things twice, here's my Trip Advisor review of Champneys at Henlow Grange, where I recently spent a one-night break. Highly recommend if you'd like a bit of pampering!

This was my second visit to Champneys Henlow, after a break of nine years. I was wondering what to expect, after the reviews seemed to suggest that the standards had dropped. Well, I've come to the conclusion that maybe I'm just not that fussy, or perhaps I have different priorities to other people. For me, the most important things are having friendly staff, nice food and good facilities, and in this respect I had no complaints. Life is too short to worry about a slightly worn carpet or a bit of peeling paint. When we arrived, we were greeted straightaway and shown to a drawing room with our welcome pack to complete our details. They obviously do need to work on their admin, as they still had my old address and had not got us down for the correct treatments, despite my having emailed them. However, it was easily sorted after a quick trip to the spa reception - in fact, we were able to arrange more convenient times, so it actually worked in our favour! We also received a complementary upgrade to a superior room, due to the renovation work that everyone keeps mentioning. While we saw a little bit of scaffolding, it in no way affected our stay. Our room was very nice - we had a little table and chairs on a patio outside, overlooking the weir. Yes, we had some mosquitoes, but if you leave the windows open in the summer, what do you expect? There was a warning notice in the room about this - I'm not sure what else Champneys can do!

We had a flat screen TV, DVD player, tea and coffee facilities, hairdryer, Champneys toiletries, a rain mac, a robe and flip-flops (which you can take home). The beds were comfy and the room was clean. If I was trying to be picky, the carpet was a bit old and one of the curtain rods (for closing them) was missing - were we bothered?! The food was delicious and healthy to boot, and we had no problems being seated or brought our drinks - the staff were efficient and friendly. The spa facilities were good; there were a few broken lockers, but we never had problems finding empty ones, and there were plenty of towels. There is a laconium, a steam room, a sauna and a 25m pool (which could have done with being a bit warmer). There are only 5 showers and 2 changing rooms but, again, we never had to wait for these. Despite it being a weekend, we had no problems booking in for classes, of which there were loads to choose from. You have to pay £3 to book in advance, but they are free if you book on the day. We had two treatments each, which were lovely, and a thalassotherapy session, which was good fun. There are plenty of sun beds around the pool, sun loungers outside and some lovely relaxing areas inside, so there are plenty of places to go if you'd just like to chill out for a while. The grounds are beautiful and huge, and there is a nature walk you can do at one end of the grounds. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly, and really couldn't do enough for you. We were given a personal tour of the facilities and, when we were seen carrying bags, everybody offered to help, from cleaners to fitness staff and waiters! We had another small problem on checking out, where we were charged for a bottle of wine instead of a glass - again, this was easily fixed, and we ended up getting the glass free! Overall, the only problem we had was that there simply wasn't enough time to do everything we wanted - next time, I'd like at least a week, please!