The spa at The Berkeley hotel hides high in the sky above Knightsbridge, an oasis away from the hubbub. Treatment rooms are quiet and cool; enter, and concerns such as time and reality cease to exist.
Instead, your primary concern is relaxation — that’s easy when your feet are being slipped from their fluffy slippers and bathed in warm oils within seconds of walking through the treatment room door. After a short skincare consultation there’s a 30-minute deep-tissue massage using hot stones to unknot the neck and back. The stones feel as soothing as running your fingers through warm sand; oils treat and soften the skin.
The therapist advises, though you are encouraged to select your own products. A cleanser is applied, then washed off with a warm sponge. Then the therapist will apply exfoliator, toner and serums to treat the face.
Facials can feel harsh and occasionally astringent; the means are supposed to justify the end but you might spend a day or two trying to distract from the redness with concealer — which rather defeats the point. But with the Bamford Facial there’s no tugging or extracting, and nothing feels abrasive.
The treatment ends with a facial massage to promote blood flow to the face. You can virtually feel the skin repairing itself: my cheeks and forehead felt noticeably smoother (though strictly, touching the face is verboten).
The return to reality is always jarring — but at least I had my best face forward.
£165 for 90 minutes, the-berkeley.co.uk