My husband being an insomniac (and having been with him for 18 years, me being a part time insomniac), I was intrigued to find out what the “Sleep Retreat” at Rockliffe Hall Hotel and Spa was all about. This was the 2nd one that the hotel had organised in conjunction with Dr Guy Meadows who runs the London Insomnia Clinic. There is a 3rd planned for September. Even if you are not an insomniac, read on: Rockliffe Hall is a superb, rural destination to relax and catch up on some sleep.....
The retreat itself ran over a Sunday and Monday – we decided to arrive on Saturday and make a 4 night break of it. I envisaged combining the sleep retreat with a couple of treatments in the spa, some long walks along the NE coast and a trip to Hadrian’s Wall – however, this was not to be! Having studied the map, I am slightly ashamed to say, I soon realised that Rockliffe Hall is actually not as far north as I had thought; it is really North Yorkshire and is only just off the A1, so it literally took us 3 hours to drive there from London. Hadrian’s Wall is actually another 80 miles further north and once we had arrived, settled into our huge and very luxurious room and had a quick peak at the spa, we were going nowhere! (Not to mention the fact that it had started snowing).
So, I settled down to enjoy 4 nights at this still new hotel and enjoy what this new 5 star hotel and spa had to offer.
Dinner on the Saturday night was booked into the golf clubhouse restaurant at which we were told had just launched a brand new grill menu. This was much more formal than I would have expected from a golf clubhouse and is tastefully furnished. The restaurant was busy with smartly dressed customers – some celebrating a late St Valentine’s meal and others a 70th birthday. The food was delicious and the service friendly and efficient; refreshing to see that all of the staff at Rockliffe Hall are local (with the exception of one of the Sommeliers).
On Sunday morning, we had to be in the beautiful Campernella Room in the Old Hall at 9.30am for our “Mindful Sleep Therapy Workshop”. Dr Meadows is a young, affable guy who quickly gained our trust (NB there were 22 insomniacs in attendance) and told us that he was not here to give us an instant cure for our insomnia! This was a kind of sleep therapy which he had developed over the years. We were asked to be open minded to what he referred to as “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy”. It basically means that we must “accept our insomnia, welcome it, make friends with it” – anything, rather than fight it. When a thought comes into our heads “Oh no, I am never going to sleep tonight and I will feel terrible in the morning” – we should “take the thought, observe it, put it on the stage, laugh at it, sing to it” – anything but let it stress us out!
We also learnt about “mindfulness” – a form of meditation and one which I am sure is known to Buddhists. To be practiced 3 times a day, we need to “get into the now – focus on what we can sense around us – the sounds, the smells, the touch and most importantly our breathing”. These techniques need to be practiced during the day to aid good sleep. What props do people who don t have trouble sleeping use? Nothing. Dr Meadows suggest we forget getting out of bed if we can t sleep, forget reading or watching tv, forget counting sheep – even eventually wean ourselves off the sleeping pills and simply practice the above and DO nothing! Well, has it worked? A week later, both my husband and I have racked up more hours’ sleep than in a typical week and we are both putting the techniques into practice. Dr Meadows will be calling us in a month to see how we and the other 20 delegates are getting on! I am going to sign up to his Facebook page to assess the results!
The session ended at 4.30pm and dinner had been arranged a deux in The Waterhouse Restaurant. One of those menus where you could eat everything but have to choose a dish – fresh fish and fishcakes, pasta, steak – something to suit everyone. I found a delicious white Rioja to go with my meal. Yet again, we were impressed at how friendly and chatty the staff were, who all seemed keen to hear about our “Sleep Retreat” and whether it had worked! They had been well briefed – to the point where I think something must have come up on the till to say “This couple are on the Sleep Retreat”!
Now, I haven t mentioned the beds yet at Rockliffe Hall – I was told that someone did a lot of research over in Ireland to find THE most comfortable mattresses and beds for this 71 room-hotel. Well, they did a good job. We enjoyed our 2nd great night’s sleep!
Find out more about spa breaks to Rockliffe Hall..
Subscribe