What is the cure to our modern, hectic world?
This autumn, take a trip to Grafton and check out Ste. Anne’s Spa, Canada’s favourite spa. A quick jaunt from Toronto, you can treat yourself to mud wraps, massages and facials, among other relaxing options.
The estate features both a eucalyptus steam room and a fieldstone grotto, where you can hang out in the hot tub before cooling off in the plunge pool.
For the ladies, the change room offers a unique surprise: colour therapy hot tubs. Yes, you can soak your weary bones in a fuchsia sea.
The special treat for the season? Mocha fusion. Using coffee as a natural exfoliant, this spa treatment will replenish your skin from toes to scalp and clear your mind. The ultimate full-body experience.
Ste. Anne’s also offers wellness classes, giving guests the chance to participate in yoga, stretch or meditation classes. Under the tutelage of Jenn Hall, guests are taught the various poses involved in several branches of yoga. These classes are also occasionally offered as a special retreat, the best way to get the full Ste. Anne’s wellness experience.
If you want more than just a spa visit, there are numerous options. Guests can visit the Spa Bakery and catch one of the culinary demonstrations. Watch as Pastry Chef Khushroo guides you through the process of creating amazing desserts.
Or take a lovely guided walk (or snowshoe!) through the Northumberland Hills. Enjoy the peaceful surroundings as you visit nearby forests, creeks and even the local farm.
You can even arrange for an equine experience. Ste. Anne’s maintains stables and lets guests interact with the horses in various ways. Groups are kept small, to ensure guests feel comfortable and willing to ask questions.
Guests can choose several options: from watching the stablehands perform daily horse care, either morning muck or evening turn in; to grooming time, which gives visitors the chance to groom a horse; to the learn to ride program, a new program which offers visitors the chance to learn the eight horsemanship levels, from grooming and harnessing through to full diagonals.
“The learn to ride program has just kicked off and two guests that have signed up for the five day program both made it through to the trotting stage,” the stable caretaker, Kareylee White, says.
And if you have a fear of horses? “All of our horses are very friendly, almost too friendly sometimes,” White assures me.
Whether you want to run away for a day or a weekend, Ste. Anne’s Spa is the perfect escape from busy city life.