I had a girly trip to the spa this weekend which was lovely and very relaxing. We went to Lifehouse Spa which is out near Frinton. I’d been a couple of times before so it helped that I knew what to expect and that I knew I would definitely be able to get around. It meant I wasn’t stressing beforehand about how much I would or wouldn’t be able to access.

Booking process

We booked online with a special deal and I was very pleased to see that I had the option to book an accessible room online which is pretty rare; you nearly always have to call to request an accessible room.

We received a confirmation email with how to get in touch if you had any medical or dietary requirements that you needed to discuss with the team and plenty of follow up emails with info and FAQs to make sure that you had all the info you needed.

Parking

They have disabled parking right by the front entrance which is great otherwise the car park it pretty far away and on gravel which would be difficult to navigate, especially with luggage in tow! 

Accommodation

The room was a little bit smaller than I had anticipated. It would have been a real squeeze if I didn’t have just a small manual chair and also the ability to walk a bit which meant I could tuck the chair out of the way when we were in there.

The beds were very comfy and the view from the room was pretty nice as well. The en suite was also very nice, it was a wet room with a shower and an accompanying shower seat.

 

However there was quite a big lip on the entrance to the bathroom and my little wheels kept getting stuck as I tried to get in there!

The other downside to the room was that is was absolutely boiling! Bear in mind it’s the middle of October and we had the windows open, all the radiators turned off, a fan on and we were still sweltering!

FOOD

My favourite part 😍

We had afternoon tea as part of the deal that we’d bought and it was absolutely delicious and so much food! We had to have it wrapped up and took it away this us. We hadn’t been sure whether to arrange a dinner slot or not but I’m pleased we didn’t in the end as the food from the afternoon was filling enough; there was no way I could have eaten a full dinner as well!

 

Getting around and the facilities

I do enjoy this spa although not much has changed since the first time I went 5 years ago, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s pretty easy to get around; most of it was tiled flooring apart from a small section which was carpeted. The carpet wasn’t the best to push on but I’ve had to fight with much worse so it wasn’t too bad.

There was plenty of room everywhere I went so I didn’t feel I was getting in anyone’s way at any point. The staff were all very helpful and accommodating and there were plenty of lifts to get me about.

One problem I did have to deal with a lot was that every single door weighed a tonne. Even the one to my bedroom. Luckily I was nearly always with someone because it would have been impossible for me to get around on my own.

Also as well as trying to battle the doors I also at the same time encountered more of those big lips on the doorway. It’s a fatal combination for someone in a manual chair 😂 you just end up struggling and when you think you’ve conquered one of the issues the other one stops you in your tracks.

Also, the grounds are absolutely beautiful, but as you can imagine, not that easy to navigate. There isn’t too much that can be done about that but as it was such nice weather it would have been nice to explore the grounds a little more.

 

Overall I did have an absolutely lovely time and came back feeling very relaxed. From an accessibility point of view I was blown away by how easy it was for me to get around when I went 5 years ago. But actually, it’s almost exactly the same as it was back then and whereas most other places are developing more and more to make things as accessible as possible this feels like it’s slipping behind just because it hasn’t developed what they already have.

My spa experience was fabulous but from an accessibility point of view I can only give three wheels

Let me know if there are any spas that you’ve been to that you think might do better (or worse!) on my wheely scale.

I’ve got a little holiday next week so I’ll have plenty to talk about after that so stay tuned!