Champneys has been dispensing good health to UK clients In the latest in our series on the world\'s top hotels and the stars who frequent them, Sarah Turner checks out Champneys health resort in Tring, Hertfordshire - where stars (literally) chill out at -135C , and Kylie Minogue can occasionally be seen splashing in the shallow end.
Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Kylie Minogue, Naomie Harris, Dizzee Rascal, Tony and Cherie Blair.
The resort that launched a million detoxes and fat-farm jokes, Champneys is the original British health farm. It was founded by a South African, Stanley Lief, in 1925 as the Nature Cure Resort, promoting health through such novel concepts as osteopathy, naturopathy and salad-centric cuisine.
These days there are 92 rooms split between the main house - where the décor tends to classic chintz - and the garden rooms which have a more contemporary design. Parts of the main house do feel in need of renovation.
But the spa is new and has an indoor swimming pool, a thalassotherapy pool - a warm, mineral rich pool with hydrotherapy water jets to help ease arthritis and other associated aches and pains.
There is also an outdoor hot tub plus a warren of treatment rooms.
Housed in a Georgian mansion that was once owned by the Rothschild family, Champneys is surrounded by 170 acres of grounds where you\'ll find fitness trails and tennis courts.
Beyond the courts are the golf courses and the well-tended gardens of the Home Counties.
Now owned by the Purdew family, who have a chain of health resorts, Champneys still has diet and nutrition at its heart - talks on nutrition and exercise advice feature strongly.
Champneys\' core devotees are still the sort of ladies who feel guilty about lunching too much - a section of the restaurant is reserved for those on a strict calorie-controlled diet.
Dressing gowns are de rigueur during the day - including in the restaurant. Meals are buffet-style during the day but fancier at night - and wine is served.
Champneys isn\'t totally puritanical about food, either. Rapper Dizzee Rascal stayed over on his birthday and was presented with a cake - which he shared with his spa therapists.
The services on offer cover everything from manicures to clairvoyancy. Tim Colman is one of the top-rated therapists - his Tui Na massage is a specialised and very effective form of Chinese acupressure.