It's a lovely place and they have done some great improvements since our visit last year. I loved the Tropical Storm experience! Lunch was great.
It was just too busy. We arrived at 10 am and had to drive round car parks A, B, C and D before finding a space in car park E.
The class we wanted to do was fully booked. There were not enough
Mitts for everyone who wanted to do the aqua mitt class and not enough Dumbbells for the aqua fit class. All the beds had been taken..... Some just claimed by towels despite signs requesting that not to happen. There were queues for showers at the end of the day. Some ladies were using the 2 loos as changing rooms, which meant quite a wait for those needing relief.
My friend and I love a good spa experience, and we were expecting great things from Champneys. However, we were a bit disappointed. When we arrived, we weren't offered welcome drinks, or even shown where to go. We spent most of the morning feeling cold. The loud music accompanying the aqua aerobics totally spoilt the 'relaxed' atmosphere. The salad buffet for lunch offered a good selection, but the tables were so close together, we felt like we had to whisper to each other. We warmed up a bit in the afternoon, and mid-afternoon we had coffee and cake in the Orangery, which was very pleasant. An almost enjoyable experience, but not good value for money.
The venue is beautiful and the facilities are extensive. The food is tasty but also feels very healthy and nutritional. The spa was busy but it was still possible to use the steam rooms and saunas without waiting too long. There are also plenty of loungers and beds. The only downside for me was the treatments. The facial was nice, but I was told that as it was a 25 min treatment we would need to hurry. The whole treatment felt rushed. The massage was slower and more relaxed but myself and my sister in law both found the massages quite painful. Perhaps we should have asked for them to be less firm. Overall a nice experience.
Lovely visit to Forest Mere - loved the pool, Jacuzzi and the massage, the food was also very nice. This was my 2nd visit, my 1st visit was 10 years ago and a lot had changed for the better although one of the steam rooms was not working and I had booked to get HD brows however they did not have my booking in the system which was disappointing however I would definitely go back.