Bank House Hotel & Spa Worcester: Review

Back in 2016 Ash and I were invited to review Bank House Hotel and Spa in Worcester. We had originally planned to go in December however, as we drove over to Lichfield to get the car filled with petrol and the tires inflated ready for the Monday, the brakes went. So after getting the car towed to the garage and told the earliest they could look at it was Monday, we knew we had to cancel.

Thankfully the people at Bank House were ever so helpful and quickly agreed to us rearranging the dates once the car was sorted. So on the 27^th January we finally headed off to try out the spa and spend a night at Bank House.

Where is Bank House?

Bank House is easily accessible from the M5 and is situated along the A4103, in fact I was really surprised that it was so easy to get to, directly off a roundabout, yet when you get to the back of the property you are greeted by a beautiful view, that goes on well into the distance.

What is at Bank House?

Bank House includes 61 bedrooms, the relaxing Luxury Malvern View Spa and an 18-hole Florida style golf course, which includes 14 lakes and two island greens. If that isn’t enough they are open for weddings from anything from 40-500 guests, with two beautiful rooms being offered for the bridal party for both the night before, and after the wedding.

How were treated at Bank House?

The easiest way to say it is with a warm welcome, the moment we walked into the entrance we were greeted with a smile and while I didn’t think our room would be ready (we arrived around 2:30 and check in doesn’t start till 3), it actually was! As we departed the desk with our keys, spa and dinning schedule we were asked if we would like a tour of the hotel, we quickly accepted and went to drop our bags off before heading back.

We were shown around by the duty manager, I have to be honest here and say we didn’t manage to see everywhere, I was booked into the spa at 3 and so we had to cut it short, but we were lucky enough to see the room used for civil weddings and wow what a view it gives. We were also shown the Penthouse Suite, which is based inside the 17^th Century part of Bank Hotel and has beautiful period beams running throughout. It is also the perfect place for a bride to be to spend the night before the wedding with her bridesmaids, as well as offering a stunning area for the bridal party to get ready on the morning of the big day

Bank Hotel has also recently opened some rooms very close to the spa, with the specific idea of a friends and family based spa weekend. As these are so close to the spa itself, you can easily take yourself off to the comfort of your own room to change, without having to walk through the main hotel.

What was our room like?

We were placed in a double room, on the ground floor. It was spacious and included everything we needed for an overnight stay. While I mentioned the view from the back of the hotel, our room sadly overlooked the car park, but it wasn’t noisy and we didn’t really spend time looking out of the window, so this wasn’t an issue.

The room featured a large comfortable bed, TV, coffee and tea making facilities, an en suite bathroom, which featured a bath with overhead shower, wardrobe with iron and ironing board hidden inside, as well as two seats and a table under the window.

What is the spa like at Bank House?

Having had good and bad experiences at spas I am always a little worried about how the welcome maybe, however there is nothing to worry about at Bank House, as both Ash and I were once again greeted with a warm welcome and quickly shown around the area before Ash headed back off to the room and I awaited my treatment.

I was asked to take a seat in the Spa Café, from which you can order light snacks and drinks (there was a delicious looking plate of handmade muffins on show) and while I waited for my therapist, I was treated to a warm cloth and delicious fruit smoothie as I filled in the personal details form.

Totally Quenched & Drenched Facial

Now my past with facials isn’t good, so I didn’t actually check out much about this before we arrived, I thought leaving it as a surprise and not worrying would be my best way forward. However, yet again I had nothing to worry about, my therapist was lovely and the totally quenched and drenched facial is just WOW. Honestly it’s not just a facial, this beauty of a treatment offers 2 facemasks and face and scalp massage, alongside a hand and arm massage and even a foot and leg exfoliation treatment.

This amazing treatment takes 75 minutes and I found myself so relaxed throughout, that I couldn’t even manage to speak, and my skin after? Well as always I was worried about a post new treatment breakout by it actually cleared up any blemishes I did have and left my skin so soft and smooth for the proceeding week.

At the end of the treatment you are given a card which includes the name of all the products used during the session, it can also detail items your therapist thinks might help your skin. I was suggested the Temple Spa Purification Mask, which I decided to pick up alongside a giveaway prize. What surprised me most about the Temple Spa range, is not just the quality, which shines through from how wonderful my skin felt after the facial, but the price, for a spa quality product my purification mask set me back just £27.

The Malvern View Spa

After my facial I decided to head back to the room for a cuppa and a bit of a relax for an hour, before going back to the spa and taking advantage of the other facilities available to guests during their spa break stay.

There are a number of facilities in the spa area alongside the treatment rooms; there is a gym, thermal suite, sun terrace and small pool area. Inside the Thermal Suite you will find a Jacuzzi, this one runs at quite a hot temperature so they say to only spend 10 minutes in it, which is usefully the time it runs for after you push the button.

Next to the Jacuzzi is a steam room, this is filled with beautiful scented steam, which can help clear the passages and allow you to breath better, opposite this you will find the experience showers, the main overhead shower runs very cold and while this is perfect for cooling down you won’t want to stay under it for long. If you aren’t brave enough to try the coldest one, you can experience a more subtle shower from the sides and a smaller overhead shower.

Lastly in this area you will find the sauna, my Fibromyalgia doesn’t like dry heat at all, so this a room I skipped, however for many I am sure it is perfect.

Back out of the thermal suite and to the left you will find the pool area, this is a small pool, with seating area, where you can relax and unwind with a drink, catch up with a book or I even noticed someone on their computer.

For those not staying in the spa area, there is of course access to male and female changing rooms and showers to make sure you are fresh and ready to go.

The one spa issue

Now I’m going to admit there was one issue with the spa, it isn’t very disability friendly. To get to the treatment rooms and gym from the main hotel is pretty easy, you can take a lift, however this is where it gets tricky. The spa café, sauna suite, café and desk are all back on the ground floor, which from the inside of the hotel you have to take the stairs to. If you can’t take steps, you’re going to have to go back down the lift and outside to the spa entrance around the back.

What was the food like?

With our package we had included a three course dinner and breakfast and the food is always the bit that Ash looks forward to most of all.

Around 7:30 we headed to the dining room and were offered our choice of tables, after looking at the menu we decided to just have a mains and pudding. I went for the duck, while Ash had a steak, now Ash has his steak well done and often finds that people can’t manage to get a well done steak still juicy. This wasn’t the case with the steak from Bank House, apparently it offered up one of the best steaks Ash had ever had and he was really pleased when we actually bumped into the chef the next morning and he got to thank him in person. I have to admit my duck was pretty good as well.

For pudding Ash had ice cream, while I had a Baked Alaska, something I hadn’t tried before but found absolutely delicious.

At this point we were very glad we haven’t had starters, as both of us were absolutely stuffed and completely in agreement it was a very good meal.

The next morning we hardly managed much of the breakfast on offer, which included a choice of English or Continental style, as well as a number of different menu items. We personally went for an English breakfast, which once again was delicious.

What was our overall opinion?

As we checked out at just before 11am the next morning, we both agreed it was a lovely hotel, run by extremely friendly people and somewhere we would be more than happy to visit again in future, as well as being somewhere we would happily recommend to friends and family who were on the lookout for a spa break in the area.

If you fancy knowing more about Bank House, or would like to book yourself a stay do head over to their website, where you can check prices and find out more about this beautiful building, spa and of course if you’re into golf, the golf course.

What do you think of the sound of Bank House, is it a hotel or spa you would like to visit?

*We received a complementary nights stay and spa access to help with writing thing post.