Your visit · before the table

Arrive thirty minutes early.

Not fifteen. Thirty. It is on the booking confirmation and it is the single most useful instruction on this website, and roughly half of first-time guests do not do it.

Stillwater / Your first visit

Thirty minutes before

A robe, a bench by the window, a cup of whatever is steeping. This is where the drive comes off you. Arriving five minutes early and going straight to a table means spending the first twenty minutes of your treatment arriving.

30 min

Included

The intake

Five minutes, written and then spoken. Injuries, surgeries, pregnancy, medication, what hurts, what you do not want touched. The last one matters and almost nobody offers it unprompted.

5 min

—

Undressing, to your comfort

Robe to the room, then to whatever you are comfortable with under the sheet. You are draped throughout and only the area being worked is uncovered.

—

The treatment

Nobody will start a conversation. Nobody will play music. If the pressure is wrong, or you are cold, or you want to talk, say so at any point.

—

Afterwards

The room stays yours. Nobody will knock. Water and tea in the hall, and no one at the desk will ask you to rebook or add anything.

—

Bring A swimsuit
if there is water
in your booking

Nothing else

Robes, towels,
slippers, lockers
all provided

Leave the phone
in the car

No cash needed

The two things people get wrong

Arriving on time rather than early. Covered above and it is the big one. Thirty minutes is part of the treatment rather than a courtesy to us.

Not saying what they do not want touched. Feet, scalp, stomach, face, the left shoulder that had surgery in 2019. Every therapist here asks, and people say “anything is fine” and then spend eight minutes tense about their feet. Just say it. Nobody has ever been offended and it makes the hour better.

Phones

There is no signal past the second cattle grid, which solves most of this for us. Lockers are by the changing rooms and there is a landline at the desk if somebody needs to reach you.

If you are on call or have a child with a sitter, tell the desk and they will come and get you. That has happened perhaps a dozen times in six years and it is not a problem.

Cancellations

Forty-eight hours, and we hold a card at booking. Under that we charge half; a no-show is the full treatment. Six rooms means one empty table is a real hole in a day, and the therapist who set that room up in the morning is paid either way.

If you are ill, ring us and we will move it with no charge. That is not a loophole, it is the policy: we would much rather you did not drive eighteen miles with a fever.

Asked often.

How early should I arrive at Stillwater?

Thirty minutes, and it is part of the treatment rather than a courtesy. Arriving five minutes early means spending the first twenty minutes of your hour still arriving.

What should I bring to a spa day?

A swimsuit if there is water in your booking, and nothing else. Robes, towels, slippers and lockers are provided, and there is no signal past the second cattle grid so the phone can stay in the car.

Do I have to undress completely for a massage?

To your comfort. You are draped throughout and only the area being worked is uncovered. Plenty of people keep underwear on and it changes nothing.

What is the cancellation policy?

Forty-eight hours. Under that is half the treatment and a no-show is the full amount. If you are ill, ring and we will move it with no charge rather than have you drive out here with a fever.

Should I tip at a spa?

Never expected and always kept by the therapist. Fifteen to twenty per cent is what people who tip tend to leave, and a good number of regulars do not tip at all, which nobody minds.

Thirty minutes early.

Everything else on this page is detail. That one instruction is the whole thing.

Reserve a treatment Find the road

The two things people get wrong

Phones

Cancellations

Asked often.

Read next.

Thirty minutes early.