Great West Way® Travel Magazine | Issue 02

Did you know? Although we’ve discovered a lot about
what is in Bath’s famous spring water 42 different
minerals including sodium and magnesium to this day
no one is quite sure where exactly it originates from.
restaurants around the city too, with some excellent vegan
and vegetarian-friendly places such as The Green Rocket
and Acorn. Take a daytime or twilight dip at Thermae Bath
Spa, followed by one of their indulgent treatments. Watsu,
perhaps, where a therapist stretches and guides your body
through flowing movements in the warm water. Or the
Roman Trilogy, which includes a salty body scrub, a soothing
body massage and an invigorating facial.
Continue your pampering with an overnight stay at a
luxury spa hotel. You might enjoy The Gainsborough Bath
Spa, just a short stroll from Thermae Bath Spa, where
you can experience the original thermal springs in natural
thermal pools at their award-winning Spa Village, or try
No.15 Great Pulteney Street and relax in their luxurious
cedar wood hot tub and sauna.
FINDING WELLNESS IN BRISTOL
Bristol is a city that normally makes waves for its edgy art
scene, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a wellnessthemed
break in the city. You might even find yourself
embracing a totally new approach to exercise.
Try for example a stand-up paddleboard lesson with SUP
Bristol on Bristol’s Floating Harbour or a swim at Clifton’s
Victorian Lido. Later on, once you’ve refuelled at one of the
many health-conscious, flexitarian-focused restaurants - No
1 Harbourside, Watershed Café & Bar, Thali Café to name a
few - try something totally different.
There’s a class for just about everything, from circus skills
workshops to Beyoncé-inspired jazz dance. Not to mention
all the yoga and holistic therapies that are hugely popular in
Bristol. Wild Wolf’s Yoga, Bristol City Yoga and Bristol Yoga
Space are all fairly central.
A SPIRITUAL TRAIL
If the wellness you seek is spiritual, you’ll find plenty of
absorbing sacred spaces along the Great West Way. Early
travellers between London and Bristol would surely have
found comfort in these places, as every journey was a leap
of faith that came with the threat of highwaymen and
unforeseen hazards.
Some suggest Stonehenge was constructed as a place of
healing, and that the smaller bluestones used were dragged
all the way from south Wales because they were imbued
with healing powers from nearby hot springs.
Or visit one of the almighty cathedrals on or near the Great
West Way. There’s the inimitable Bath Abbey, perfect for →
Pictured
left then
clockwise:
Aheli Spa
at The
Roseate
Reading;
Spa Village
at The
Gainsborough
Bath
Spa; spa at
No.15 Great
Pulteney
Hotel &
Spa
GreatWestWay.co.uk 61