Flumpers: Party of Two

Ah, Monart went by in a blink: by the time I'd figured out what a caldarium was, admitted that Kniepp therapy might not necessarily be a madey-uppy thing, and imbibed my ration of lemon & parsley water, it was time to open a bottle o'red and get stuck into a fine evening meal with my mom.

Heaven. And did I mention the dark relaxation room? Lovely fabrics, low music, lit only by candlelight. Heaven to the nth.

The following day we indulged in it all again (and remembered the camera before we finished and headed for our wander around the estate). The 18th century Georgian house was built by Nathanial Cookman (financier to George I and local live-in landowner) whose son married a daughter of the Jameson-Whiskey folk (Jameson was at that time local whiskey for local people).  The place remained in the Cookman family until 2002, when Monartization commenced. The spa is all a swanky new production, but there's a nice mix of old and new. The extension doesn't detract from the impact of the original house, and the surrounding ancient trees really ground the setting.

Although we didn't try the plunge pool :-)