The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

The Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park: Escape to a Perfect Berkshire Spa Hotel Near London

Did you know about the Retreat Hotel at Elcot Park? Well I was thrilled to recently discover this stunnning Berkshire spa hotel near London. Making it the perfect escape from the bustle of the city. In this blog post I’ll share my review of the Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park covering the key features of this recently renovated spa hotel near London, along with things to do in the West Berkshire area. Everything you want to know about the food at the hotel? You know I’ve got you covered on that too.

The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

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Table of Contents

How to get to this spa hotel near London

Boopfoodie at the entrance of The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

The Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park is located a short drive from Newbury in Berkshire. It took us under two hours to drive to the hotel from North London so it’s perfect for a one night staycation.

You can also get to the hotel quite easily on public transport taking this train from London Paddington to Newbury and then either catching a bus or a short taxi drive to the hotel. There’s plenty to do in the hotel so don’t worry about needing a car to get around while you’re there.

Hotel offers

Two glasses of mulled wine The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

Book the Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park to avail of their excellent early bird offer. We paid £180 for one night early bird bed & breakfast in total for two people. I think this is fantastic value for a spa hotel near London, especially when you consider everything that’s included in the hotel stay.

Hotel facilities

Bedroom at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

We booked the classic room and were treated to a complimentary room upgrade (always ask for one) to the Heritage room. This room was beautiful with aqua and blush decor and a perfect balance of modern and classic. The room overlooked the beautiful hotel lawn and came with lots of much appreciated complimentary touches:

  • bespoke Bramely toiletries,
  • oat milk and fresh chilled milk,
  • a variety of Teapigs teabags,
  • home baked cookies hanging from the hotel room door,
  • a Lavazza coffee machine

I was in my element. I don’t want to ruin the surprise but there’s also a complimentary tipple in the room! So cute.

One of the nicest features of the Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park is the right to raid their complimentary pantries. The pantries are fully stocked with chilled drinks, filtered water taps, sweets and snacks. There are a few pantries hidden throughout the hotel.

Pantries at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

Food at the hotel

As a London foodie good food at a hotel is very important to me. The Retreat Hotel, Elcot park has two restaurants – their 1772 brasserie and the Yu Pan restaurant which offers a pan-Asian fine dining menu.

Dinner

We booked dinner in the 1772 brasserie which I imagine is beautiful in the Summer time. It has large windows overlooking the outdoor pool (more on that later) and the hotel grounds.

The modern menu is inspired by British staples. They also had a choice of specials available on the night. We ordered the Bao bun (£10) to share, from their snacks menu. To start I had the grilled scallops with cauliflower cream, pancetta and black pudding crumb (£15). My husband had the confit duck leg fritter with dark plum sauce and celeriac remoulade (£9). Everything was very enjoyable but the duck fritter blew us both away. I’d definitely recommend ordering that.

Food at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

We shared the fish pie for our main course (£55) which was filled with West Coast smoked haddock and tiger prawns in a creamy vegetable sauce with a few surprising boiled eggs. Neither of us had seen boiled eggs in a fish pie before so that did make us laugh. The fish pie came with a delightful crayfish Caesar salad and mashed peas. I couldn’t resist ordering the crème brûlée cheesecake for dessert. I hadn’t heard of that combination before and they certainly delivered with a perfect creme brulee crisp on top of that cheesecake (£9).

Dinner at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

The Atlas room bar and lounge should be fully stocked with enough board games to keep you occupied after dinner while you enjoy their drinks (and alcohol free) menu.

Breakfast

Breakfast is also served in the 1772 brasserie. While I tend to have low expectations when it comes to a hotel buffet breakfast, this hotel really surprised me. There was a good choice of breakfast items including a cold section with fruit, smoothies, overnight oats, pastries, bread and cereal and a hot food section served in cast iron pots.

The coffee at breakfast was just what I needed too. They also do takeaway cups which I love at a hotel breakfast, as I like to take my coffee with me for a morning walk.

Breakfast at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

Things to do

Visit the spa

I highly recommend a visit to the spa at the Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park which should be included in your hotel stay. You can also book a spa day if you’re not staying at the hotel. The spa includes a hydrotherapy pool, sauna, steam room and the star of the show – the heated outdoor pool. I could have spent all day in that! We also booked a spa treatment which is extra, and it is advisable to book ahead for treatments.

Outdoor pool at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london
Spa at The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

There are plenty of fitness options too with a mini gym and a fitness class schedule which looked great for midweek stays including Pilates and yoga.

Walking

If you enjoy walking, there is a fully stocked welly wall. So you can put your welly boots on and get out and explore the Berkshire countryside with breathtaking views of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. They even have QR code friendly walking routes. We did the shorter of these walks on the morning after our hotel stay and saw a muntjac deer on the walk.

Hiking

If hiking is your thing you can find a number of nearby hiking trails on All Trails. We had initially planned to do the Combe Gibbet circular hike but the icy road conditions meant we couldn’t get there. So I quickly sourced a different nearby trail – the Kintbury Canal & meadows hike which was beautiful. We ended up passing the canals and walking through a lovely forest.

Hiking Berkshire near The Retreat hotel, Elcot park spa hotel near london

I love a countryside visit to a farm shop and Cobbs at Hungerford is an excellent farm shop nearby.

For a closer look at The Retreat Hotel, Elcot Park don’t forget to check out my social channels @BoopFoodie. I was blown away by our stay at the Retreat Hotel, Elcot park, what a perfect hotel and spa near London. Watch my travel vlog on YouTube for a closer look.


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