The birthday treat-spa weekend is as tried and trusted a combination as Ant and Dec (other combinations are available). However, being a great pairing in theory doesn’t always translate into reality, as the twice-sundered Ben Affleck and Jenifer Lopez prove.
Happily, my wife's overnight birthday break at the Donnington Valley Spa Hotel was more Ant and Dec than Bennifer. Here's why...
The road to Donnington
The Donnington Valley Spa Hotel lies just off junction 13 on the M4. This makes it brilliantly located for anyone in London and the surrounding areas, though we were a little concerned when the sat nav said three minutes to go and we were practically driving through the middle of Chieveley services. We needn’t have worried, as despite its proximity to a confluence of main roads, the hotel is surrounded by rolling green hills and immediately offers that invaluable sense of being 'elsewhere’.
First impressions
Narrowing our gaze from the hotel’s picturesque setting to its facade, we were immediately struck by how big it was. But while Donnington's dimensions are industrial, both its interior and approach to service feel far more personal, almost boutique.
Industrial-boutique rooms
To run with the industrial-boutique theme (have I coined a phrase here?), the rooms replicate the hotel as a whole being both large yet welcoming.
We certainly felt welcome when we walked into our room for the night and found a selection of gifts and a congratulatory card marking my wife’s birthday on the bed.
While it is hard to wax lyrical about a fairly basic hotel room, it did the basics to a tee.
We were particularly impressed by the commodious bath which we could probably have swum a few laps in.
Pool's gold
Onto the actual pool area and we weren’t disappointed. As the rain lashed down around the cocooned health club, we sat poolside and tucked into the more than adequate spa menu and some quite frankly delicious smoothies.
Feeling full, we let the food digest while reclining on the loungers that garland the pool, before jumping in for a refreshing few lengths.
As is customary on such occasions, we mixed up the swimming with frequent sojourns to the sauna, steam and aroma rooms, as well as jumping into the popular jacuzzi whenever we spotted a space.
The only disappointment (and this is the definition of a first-world problem) was the poolside power showers were neither sufficiently vigorous nor cold enough truly to feel the benefits of the sauna.
Culinary excellence
After retreating to our room to perform the necessary pre-dinner ablutions, we meandered down the corridor to the hotel’s restaurant, The Winepress, for our evening dinner.
The jovial head chef, Darren Booker-Wilson, previously ran his own Michelin-starred establishment, and the quality of his cooking is manifest. It is also pleasingly straightforward.
"My food is simple with an emphasis on flavour," he told us between courses. "But people do eat with their eyes so presentation has to be up there. I like creating food that people will enjoy."
Well we certainly enjoyed our grub. For starters we shared a whole-baked camembert with chargrilled honey pear, sticky walnuts and crusty bread. I opted for the pork tenderloin for the main course and my wife the lamb shank. For dessert, I went for the chocolate and hazelnut sphere while my wife far more adventurously tried the biscoff and miso caramel cheesecake.
While miso clearly isn’t a homegrown ingredient, Darren is always looking to incorporate the produce of his home county, Berkshire.
"I'm fortunate enough to work and live in a county that has so many amazing restaurants and inspirational chefs, with a wealth of fresh, seasonal produce. That's one of the things that I personally find so fantastic about the food in Berkshire – the quality of the ingredients is second to none."
Truly state-of-the-art gym
After a restful night’s sleep in what was a fairly comfortable bed for a hotel, and needing to work off the previous night’s excesses, I ventured to the self-proclaimed "state-of-the-art" gym.
Having regularly visited gyms described as "state of the art" in the past which don't live up to the epithet, I wasn’t sure what I would find. I needn’t have worried as Donington’s gym fully deserves the accolade. Testament to its whizziness is the fact that it took me about five minutes to figure out how to use the cross-trainer.
A hearty breakfast
I did eventually get in a solid 15-minute workout and so felt suitably smug when I returned to the room. Either the workout or figuring out the Matrix equipment had worked up an appetite, and so I approached The Winepress for breakfast with a spring in my step and a rumble in my belly.
It’s a fully buffet-style affair and we enjoyed a hearty spread of yoghurts, cereals and the staples of a cooked breakfast. I have an aversion to scrambled egg from a buffet but bravely decided to give it a go, and I am pleased to report it really was rather nice!
A flexible and professional massage
Of course it wouldn’t be a spa break without a spa treatment, and given we were there to celebrate my wife’s birthday, it was probably fair she should be the beneficiary.
While I relaxed in the spa reception area, she went up to where the magic happens and here recounts her experience...
"The masseuse was so professional and really knew what she was talking about. She asked me lots of questions before we started to find out any problem areas, and then thoroughly and attentively worked on them.
"She even said that she would have a look at my skin to see if there are any problem areas and adapt the facial to work with them. So it felt like I was in capable hands, and as a result I was very relaxed throughout.
"And as unexpected bonus, I finished up enjoying a couple of classes of champagne in their relaxation room with Tim!."
While I can’t speak for the massage, I can speak for both the champagne and the relaxation room and they were lovely. A joint post-treatment libation is certainly a thoughtful way of involving the unmassaged partner in proceedings and, like the entire hotel, gets an unqualified thumbs up from me!
Book the Autumn Deluxe Spa Break, from just £174.50 per person, for a rejuvenating overnight stay at Donnington Valley Hotel & Spa, that includes a 55 minute treatment of choice, dinner and breakfast. Available until the end of December.
FYI, our travel journalism is written and edited by our expert writers to inspire readers. Hotel reviews have been independently reviewed by our expert writers who are usually hosted on a complimentary basis, but this never affects our review process.