Sopwell House St Albans has a spa of dreams: Review

Sopwell House in St Albans can be reached by car or St Albans is an easy direct Thameslink train from London, and not only is the hotel an absolute stunner, the town surrounding it is too.

I went as a special treat with my boyfriend, and you can tell from the second you enter the hotel grounds that it’s a place of luxury, tranquillity, and relaxation.

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The hotel reception itself is grand, the staff are friendly and helpful, and there’s a calming aura to being in the hotel grounds.

One staff member kindly showed us to our room, offering to help with any luggage and letting us know about the facilities and offerings we could take advantage of during our stay.

We were given dressing gowns and slippers and went straight to the hotel’s spa which was something of dreams.

There’s comfy loungers to sit and fall asleep on, a pool which spans through both indoor and outdoor, saunas and steam rooms, a relaxation room, three private Jacuzzis outside and another huge indoor pool.

We spent all day there and could have done the same for several days in a row, and one of the best parts was watching the sunset through the panoramic windows and then enjoying the spa at night.

The outside was lit up and it felt even nicer to be in such a warm pool when it was so cold and dark out.

We went back to our suite and got ready for dinner at the hotel’s very own Japanese restaurant Omboo.

It was a stunning place to sit, with a dark, romantic atmosphere and floral walls.

We had some wine, cocktails and made the difficult decision of what to order from a menu where everything sounds tasty.

We had some salmon and avocado sushi, some mixed yellowtail, fatty tuna and salmon sashimi and some yellowtail ceviche with seared tuna and teriyaki sauce.

The fish was so fresh and all the flavours were exquisite.

For main course my boyfriend went for the pork belly and I had the miso black cod, and we shared some fried rice with edamame and asparagus.

Miso black cod is one of my favourite dishes, and this one did not disappoint, with melt-in-the-mouth fish bursting with miso flavouring.

There’s a cocktail bar where we had another couple of drinks, and then we headed back to chill in the living area of our suite before bed.

We could have used the spa facilities the next morning, but instead decided to have a much-needed lie in before heading to the buffet breakfast.

Think cereal, fruit, fry up, eggs, yoghurt and everything in between – we were stuffed but we couldn’t get enough of it.

I’d loved to have lived in the world of Sopwell House for days and weeks longer – it was luxury, fun, relaxing and I felt like I’d been on holiday.