What you see here, ladies and gentlemen, are two spa virgins basically having the most relaxing day of their lives about 20 minutes down the road from their house.We were invited to The Spa at Ye Olde Bell in Barnby Moor and being total noobs we were most excited about the steam room and a night away from the kids - sorry, kids. Little did we know we'd spend the entire day working out when we could return.The hotel itself (which I'll talk about in a different post) was lovely, very traditional in style but the food was amazing and the bed was comfy. The spa could not be further removed from the aesthetic of the hotel if it tried. Uber modern, brand spanking new and just about the most plush feeling place I've ever visited. Lee said it was the Vegas of spa's and I would agree with him, in so much as the decor is very luxe and the attention to detail is insane. I mean, there was even a little swimming costume dryer in the changing room.I have approximately 1 million more photos to share but (and I know, I'm boring you now) you know how my internet is.. not at all on team blog right now so I'll include those in my follow up on the hotel itself later.Quite possibly my favourite element to this (actually rather compact spa) is the outdoor area. There were twinkle lights on little log cabins, fire pits, an indoor/outdoor jetted pool and blankets to snuggle up in the cold. Lee assumed he'd be outnumbered by women but it was almost exclusively couples on the day we visited and although I would absolutely return with some friends it was actually a really romantic day out. There are multiple steam room/sauna options, real snowfall, (just rubbing it in for me right now cause I feel like we're the only ones who didn't have snow this weekend) a progressive shower experience and.. wait for it.. a SALT room. Yeah, I didn't entirely get that either but it was a quiet room and was oddly my favourite of the bunch. I felt so relaxed in there! We both had massages which were (of course) lovely but for me it was a bonus, the day itself was the treat and the part of the stay that we just weren't expecting to love as much as we did.We had lunch in our robes (I know.. we were stupid to think we'd have to get dressed but remember, we're new at this!) and drinks in the pool, we honestly didn't want to leave. We're already planning to go back in the New Year, between the deals on overnight stays and half day sessions I'm hoping to make regular visits in 2018! In fact, if you're not too far away and looking for a last minute gift I can think of nothing better. If the recipient is anything like us, you'll be giving them something they never knew they always needed.

Find out more about the spa online here

  *we were gifted the experience for review