Offering therapy and relaxation in stunning historical surroundings, the Pavilion Spa at Cliveden is a luxurious country retreat within easy reach of the city.
Located near Taplow in the Berkshire countryside, just 40 minutes drive from central London, the Pavilion Spa at Cliveden sits in National Trust grounds, inside a walled garden. Famously associated with the Profumo affair in the 1960s, the heated outdoor pool referenced in the 1989 film Scandal was originally built in the 1890s by William Waldorf Astor, America's richest man, for his wife Nancy, so she wouldn't have to swim in the nearby river.
Astor's son later turned the house into a party haven for famous guests including Charlie Chaplin, Winston Churchill, President Roosevelt and George Bernard Shaw, but today the poolside is witness to a more relaxing pace of life. Burnham railway station is 4 miles away, with trains from London Paddington every 30 minutes. Heathrow airport is 20 minutes away by car, and Gatwick airport is a 50 minute car journey, or 20 minute helicopter ride away.
As well as heated indoor and outdoor pools, the Pavilion Spa at Cliveden also boasts Canadian Hot Tubs, a Jacuzzi, men's and ladies' steam rooms, a sauna, and 7 treatment rooms, offering beauty treatments for guests and club members 7 days a week. Exclusive facial and body treatments are available for men and women alike, using Decleor and Carita products, and the retreat's own exclusive treatments. Guests can relax on the Dry Float Bed, unwind with a Swedish Massage or Body Wrap, or sample the famous Carita "Pro-Lifting Facial". More exotic treatments are also available, including Reiki massage and reflexology, as well as manicures and pedicures, using Jessica products.
Famous house-guest Harold Macmillan, on hearing that the place was to become a hotel, remarked to his host, "My dear boy, it always has been." A tradition of fine hospitality which continues to this day.
