As they say, good things come to those who wait; and The Bothy by Wildsmith spa, set in Heckfield Place, in the UK’s Hampshire, has been nearly five years in the making. Occupying the estate’s former bothy – a shelter usually for gardeners or workers of the land – the original brick building has been extended and transformed into a sprawling 17,000 sq ft wellness space.
The Bothy and Heckfield Place
Heckfield Place opened its doors in 2018 to much applause. A labour of love for Boston-based businessman Gerald Chan, the Georgian Grade II-listed manor was transformed into one of the most notable country-house hotels to open in England in the past few years. Set amid 400-acres of verdant woodland, gardens and meadows, the property has its own Home Farm, kitchen gardens and orchards, which provide the ingredients for the restaurants and bars, including for the zero-waste cocktails at Moon Bar and Hearth, an open-fire restaurant led by chef Skye Gyngell.
Beginning with a journey through a glorious lavender-filled walled garden, the Bothy, as with the rest of the hotel, is lowkey and refined. The design, the work of Chan alongside a number of collaborators, offers a grounding sense of place, using natural materials from the surrounding land, like the antique Hampshire bricks and fossilised limestone, which was salvaged from the buildings’ exterior and used for the steps of the sculptural spiral staircase that takes centre stage.
This leads down to the main facilities, where mobile phones are deposited in lockers in a soothing, low-lit oak-clad reception area with a fireplace. From here, the space unfolds to include six treatment rooms, two fitness rooms, a movement studio and an outdoor hydrotherapy area, steam room and sauna with views over the rolling hills towards the farm’s Guernsey cows.
Here too is The Sun Room, a small restaurant with a pared-back plant-based menu also put together by Gyngell, alongside a light-filled 19m chlorine-free indoor pool lined with nearly 30,000 handmade terracotta tiles that were each laid by hand to catch the light and create jewel-like pockets in the muted frame.
Open only to guests at the hotel, The Bothy is a serene and quiet retreat, designed as a space where you can reconnect, realign and take root in the present time. The treatments – which range from reiki and reflexology to massages – all incorporate Wildsmith Skin products. The brand – whose products are crafted in England using ethically sourced, sustainable ingredients – started life with a walk through the woods at Heckfield Place and is named after the 19th-century horticulturalist who planted the grounds of the estate.
Post treatment, head to the Candle Room – a space of complete silence and stillness – to re-centre yourself before making your way back upstairs, where The Bothy Shop is stocked with thoughtfully curated goodies from the Made-by-Many Makers alongside the complete Wildsmith Skin range.
