Delicious and nutritious

By Karen Higginbottom

Healthy foods are good for the inside of your body, but what about the outside? Here are three tasty spa treatments to whet your appetite without the calories.

Vinotherapy

Wine may be bad for the waistline but apparently it is good for the skin. Vinotherapy detoxifies and rebalances, helping to improve skin tone and reduce ageing - frankly, what every girl wants. When we heard this rejuvenating therapy was available at Berkshire hotel The Vineyard at Stockcross we hit it faster than you can say \"Beaujolais\".

I put my body in the capable hands of the brusque but efficient therapist and was given a back massage using grapeseed oil with rosemary to relax my tense muscles. Then it was time for the facial using Italian-based ISHI grape products.

A cleansing milk containing Montalcino red grapes was applied to my skin and then my face was toned with Garda chardonnay grapes. The next stage was exfoliation with lavender, honey and grapes. Unfortunately, I couldn\'t eat the grapes at this point. My skin was then cleansed and toned of any residue, with a serum of (more) Montalcino red grapes, apricots and Sicilian grapefruit juice, which was massaged into my face.

This was not the end of the grape products. Now it was time to hydrate my face with a mask of chardonnay grapes, wood strawberry juice and raspberry honey. This simulates the skin and is anti-ageing. While the mask was on, my scalp was massaged using aromatic water. The mask was removed and a protective cream containing Tuscan Chianti Sangiovese grapes and q-10 enzyme was applied to my face. My skin felt plumped up and glowing - it\'s amazing what a few grapes can do to the skin. The highlight of the treatment was receiving a glass of red wine at the end!

We also sampled the spa facilities which were adequate but let down by having a carpeted area around the circular pool in the atrium. The sensation of wet feet sinking into carpet isn\'t pleasant.

Rooms are extremely comfortable with plump sofas and views of an interior courtyard. The hotel is built in the style of a country house with a cosy and warm ambience. However, the jewel in the crown of the hotel is its two Michelin-starred restaurant. I had melt-in-the-mouth scallops followed by venison so tender it was like cutting through butter. You can be bedazzled by a choice of more than 2,000 international wines as well. Heads of state, film stars and Formula 1 drivers have been some of the visitors to the restaurant and you can understand why after sampling its culinary delights.

Vinotherapy Body Treatment, £120 for 115 minutes at The Vineyard Spa, The Vineyard at Stockcross.

Direct trains leave from London Paddington to Newbury, Berkshire every hour on weekdays. Visit www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk for more information.

Pepper

Oh, the delights of pepper! Perfect for a salad but what about when it\'s applied to your skin during a spa treatment? A visit to The Spa at CityPoint Club in London\'s Square Mile meant we would soon find out.

A soothing treatment room greeted us, decorated in cream and brown with the requisite chill out music playing in the background. The therapist Hayley immediately put us at ease before the detoxifying pepper treatment began. The first stage of the treatment was getting rid of all those nasty dead skin cells with a pepper aroma body scrub.

Then after a quick shower in the treatment room we were ready for the soothing effects of pepper oil and pepper mother water full-body massage. The pepper oil is meant to have a stimulating effect on the cell\'s metabolism and we did notice that our skin cells were tingling and glowing afterwards. But the treatment hadn\'t finished. The pièce de résistance was the application of the \'Fango Bianco\' or pepper white mud body mask. According to Hayley, this works as a catalyst to break down the fat. Left cocooned in a plastic sheet for 10 minutes, it did occur to us we could be left in the wrap and resemble an Egyptian mummy but fortunately Hayley returned and unwrapped us. After washing the products off a soothing pepper aroma cream containing essential oils such as orange and rosemary was applied. I left the spa with a spring in my step and the winter blues completely banished!

If that\'s not enough of a foodie fix, The Spa at CityPoint Club also offers green tea, seaweed, soy, olive oil and caviar treatments.

Pepper Aroma Detox Wrap, £75 for 55 minutes at The Spa at CityPoint, London.

Spelt

Spelt is a highly nutritious cereal which you would expect to find in your breakfast bowl, and not normally consider for a health and beauty treatment. But that was our mission when arriving at Charlton House, the hotel and spa owned by Roger Saul, founder of leather, fashion and interiors company Mulberry, and his wife Monty.

Monty\'s Spa at Charlton House is a delight. The reception/café area has terracotta washed walls and velvet sofas covered with throws and cushions. Spelt is used in many of the treatments and unlike other spas, the product is farmed in the adjacent Sharpham Park farm (www.sharphampark.com), owned by the Sauls. Spelt is an ancient grain first mentioned in the Bible and renowned for its high levels of protein, essential fatty acids and Vitamin E. All of these ingredients help to maintain firmer skin so we eagerly anticipated the spelt body therapy treatment. After the lovely therapist, Lucy, gave us a thorough brushing she prepared the spelt body scrub using toasted spelt from the farm and combining it with cream. This left our skin feeling like silk but the treatment wasn\'t over yet.

Next was a back, neck and shoulder massage with soothing oil made with black pepper, marjoram and frankincense. Then Lucy applied a full-body moisturising treatment using spelt germ oil and walnut oil, followed by a facial massage using jasmine and rose. Finally, the treatment was finished off with a nourishing scalp massage. Feeling invigorated and refreshed, we ventured out to explore the rest of Monty\'s Spa which includes a hydrotherapy pool, a laconium (a gentle, dry heat sauna) and Finnish Sauna. There is so much loving attention to detail in the spa: showers are covered by tiles in shades of Mediterranean blue and the doorway leading to the steam room is decorated with shells.

We stayed in a deluxe bedroom which had its own door leading to a secret garden, and quirky design details such as bedside tables made of leather-bound travel trunks. We also sampled the culinary delights of Sharpham Park restaurant where mouth-watering beef carpaccio with spiced beetroot puree was followed by discs of venison in a sea of polenta adorned with wild mushrooms.

Far from the \'look but don\'t touch\' attitude of many country houses, Charlton exudes an atmosphere of informal splendour, where relaxation comes naturally. We\'re not the only one to appreciate its ambience and discreet charm. Celebrities such as Amy Winehouse, film actor David Warner and US band Kings Of Leon have stayed here as well.

Monty\'s Ultimate Spelt Body Therapy, £150 for two hours at Monty\'s Spa, Charlton House. Charlton House is a member of the Pride of Britain Hotels

Trains run from London Paddington to Castle Cary with First Great Western (www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk), where a 10 minute taxi ride takes you to Charlton House.

Honey, mango, yoghurt, sea salt and seaweed

You might think these ingredients form the basis of a freakishly healthy breakfast but it\'s actually a body wrap treatment at the Cowshed Spa in The Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh.

Putting ourselves in the capable hands of Melani, our bubbly South African therapist, we were vigorously brushed down to remove dead skin cells and improve circulation. Then the scrub was applied - an interesting concoction of honey, mango and sea salt. This was followed by a detoxifying seaweed wrap.

While the wrap encased us, Melani gave a scalp massage using jojoba oil. Next came the body contour cream made of grapefruit. As Cowshed products are 100 per cent organic, we felt pampered and virtuous. After the 70-minute treatment, we were escorted into the relaxation room and covered with a warm blanket.

The detoxifying effects of the body wrap treatment were much appreciated after a previous night indulging in the Scotsman\'s North Bridge Brasserie. Along with a few glasses of red wine, we savoured a starter of seared scallops with creamy parsnip puree and crunchy smoked bacon, followed by a main of tender rump of Perthshire lamb.

The Scotsman Hotel is an architectural delight with its romantic turrets, marble staircase and wood panelled walls. The former home of The Scotsman newspaper has 56 guest rooms and 13 suites. We stayed in the Publisher\'s Suite, which had its own separate drawing room and dramatic views of the Edinburgh skyline. It was certainly a view and a spa treatment to remember, which we highly recommend for a romantic getaway.

Cowshed Wrap, £75 for 70 minutes. The Leading Hotels Of The World offers stays at The Scotsman from £150 per room per night. Call toll free 00800 2888 8882 or visit www.lhw.com.

We travelled by train with National Express East Coast. Advance returns booked online between London and Edinburgh start from £33 Standard Class or £95 First Class. Book via www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com, or call 08457 225225.