Top 10 UK spa gardens: Rudding Park Spa

Rudding Park’s rooftop spa garden takes its cues from the woodland glades that border it. With a south-facing sun deck, a warm open-air hydro pool and garden sauna nestled among ornamental grasses, flowering dogwood and mature trees, it was created to evoke the sensation of a garden floating in a woodland.

“A sun-drenched mid-summer day can feel like relaxing in the south of France. Guests love it and love to engage with it,” says designer and renowned horticulturalist Matthew Wilson.

“The garden fundamentally distinguishes us from the competition; it offers a point of difference to our experience,” explains head of spa Sarah Johnson. “From a business perspective, our team deliver lounger service in a space that may have over 100 guests at any one time, generating £60,000 of beverage revenue each month.”

Other outdoor facilities include a hydrotherapy infinity pool, a panoramic sauna infused with birch blossom in spring and rose petal in summer, a herbal bath steam room, an ice fountain, a foot spa and an experience shower.

“Building the spa garden added £250,000 to the cost of the [spa] build,” says Wilson, “but it has paid dividends in terms of guest experience and revenue generation.”

SPA STATISTICS

Rudding Park Spawww.ruddingpark.co.uk/spa Instagram @ruddingparkhotel Garden product partners Johnsons of Whixley, Rigo Spa, Helo, Akula Living, B&B Italia