A health spa that's top of the drops

Amy Cooper prefers her algae to come with a glass of wine. I'VE always been a spa commitmentphobe. Anything longer than aday treatment is too daunting. Tried it once, got caught with abottle of wine behind a tree on the second day, was made an exampleof by an angry naturopath and that was that. The French think similarly, so they tend to combine their spaswith luxury hotels. This way, you can detox within your comfortzone, knowing the safety of your room and the wine list are closeby. Meanwhile, everyone on the outside believes you're suffering ina fulltime health farm. Genius. Advertisement: Story continues below At the Sebel Resort and Spa in Windsor, the reassuring bulk ofthe 41/2star hotel snuggles close to the pretty, colonnaded VillaThalgo, home to a host of Thalgo French hydrotherapy treatments.The villa was Australia's first purposebuilt day spa and you cantreat yourself to as much time as you like there while staying inthe hotel. I'm shown to a balcony suite overlooking the spa entrance, andfrom here I can watch the stressed, scrunchedup new arrivals enterthe spa below before floating out again later. Right now, I preferto enjoy the peace and privacy of the room, a generous space (about 47 square metres) full of reclining options: big, multipillowedbed; sofa with squishy cushions; leather armchair in a corner justmade for curling up with a book. There's a writing desk, too, but I won't be using that asenthusiastically as the spa in the en suite bathroom. The view is an expanse of green rural idyll part fields, partgolf course stretching into the distance. I'm only an hour out of Sydney, but feel much further away. The Hawkesbury region, with its historical villages, picturesquecountryside (70 per cent of it is national park) and five rivers isan antidote to big city malaise. The Sebel itself, beside Rosetta Stone Spanish (Spain) Windsorin the valley's south, has sanctuaries aplenty shady trees,pretty courtyards, a lake with secluded benches around it and ofcourse, Villa Thalgo. I'm booked in for a body scrub and marine algae wrap and firsttake a dip in the villa's generous pool. There's another pool withsix hydrotherapy exercise stations. You stand chesthigh in water,grip the handrails, press a button and jets pummel you all over.This is called an "analytic pool", which makes me feel a bit like alab sample, but that's the language of French spas. Here, staffwear white coats and rooms have intriguing names on the doors:Blitz hose room, Hydrobath, Rain massage. Not that it isn't decadent. Jessica, my therapist, explains thebody scrub feels particularly good because the beads are roundedfor extra comfort. Towels are huge and impossibly soft, and the affusion showerwith which I rinse off the scrub is an eightjet, toptotoedelight. Next, Jessica mixes up marine algae from powder into warm goo.This isn't a cosmetic, chemically created "marine" fragrance it'sthe salty, seaweedy real deal, almost overpowering. I'm smotheredin it and wrapped in foil so the algae's detoxifying properties canbegin their work. Twenty minutes later, I step into the affusionshower again and rinse off my dark green coating. Underneath is ashinier, smoother me. Then it's time to boost my healthy glow in the hotel's HarvestRestaurant. The wine list has plenty of delicate drops tocomplement a newly cleansed system, and the menu's hearty dishesmake good use of fresh local produce. Once I'm up in my room only the odd peal of laughter from belowdents the peace. The combined effects of pinot and algae kick insurprisingly early and I have no trouble sinking into a deep,delicious sleep.

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