{"id":650084,"date":"2026-06-21T05:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/650084\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T05:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T05:41:12","slug":"andy-murray-serves-up-ace-new-wellness-retreat-i-was-the-first-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/650084\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Murray serves up ace new wellness retreat. I was the first in"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim and Andy Murray represent very different faces of wellness. The tennis player was famous for a punishing fitness regime that helped him battle back from a series of spine and hip surgeries during his career. Meanwhile, over in the players\u2019 box, Kim was the picture of wholesomeness, f\u00eated for her glowing skin, glossy locks and serene demeanour.<\/p>\n

Gruelling or groomed? Which version of wellbeing would you prefer at Cromlix, the country house hotel that the couple bought a few months before that sunny day in 2013 when Andy ended 77 years of hurt by becoming the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men\u2019s singles since Fred Perry? The romantic, Rapunzel-turreted Victorian manse, swaddled in 34 acres of rolling hills above Andy\u2019s home town of Dunblane in Stirling, is the very definition of soft-focused relaxation. So I\u2019m firmly in the \u201cI\u2019ll have what she\u2019s having\u201d camp as I arrive for an exclusive preview of the hotel\u2019s new wellness offering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Fortunately the Woodland Retreat, a few minutes\u2019 walk from the main hotel, is 100 per cent a Mrs Murray passion project. It\u2019s a cocoon of glossy rest and recovery rather than a blood, sweat and tears boot camp with Ivan Lendl, Murray\u2019s stony-faced former coach, looking unimpressed with my press-ups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWhat you need to know\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Where is it? 35 miles northeast of Glasgow, 46 miles northwest of Edinburgh and a ten-minute taxi ride from Dunblane railway station <\/p>\n

Who will love it? The hotel\u2019s most popular package is the Do Nothing-cation, so, basically, lazy people who like a massage\u00a0<\/p>\n

Insider tip Get up early and you may spot a red squirrel or two in the grounds\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cromlix\u2019s joyous new look<\/p>\n

The retreat is the crowning glory of a phased refurbishment that began three years ago. Before then it\u2019s fair to say the decor was two parts Andy\u2019s voice (ie boring, as he says himself) and one part Lendl\u2019s joie de vivre (missing in action, although apparently he smiles when not courtside).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AndyKim and Andy Murray in the new 16-seat Cradle restaurantVerena Wood<\/p>\n

Wisely, the couple took their time to understand the Cromlix DNA before embarking on a makeover. But by 2023 they were ready to replace the tweeds, tartans, traditional watercolours and atmosphere as stilted as a Wimbledon curtsey in favour of a joyous celebration of the Stirling countryside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new look is the result of a collaboration between Kim and Suzanne Garuda, the interior designer who decorated the couple\u2019s Surrey home. They revamped the bar, sitting rooms and bedrooms with kaleidoscope-coloured velvets, floral fabrics, flamboyant wallpapers, eye-catching art from the likes of Damien Hirst.<\/p>\n

The nature-inspired mood board successfully brought the glorious rusticity available through the windows indoors, but Kim wasn\u2019t satisfied. She wanted to encourage guests outside too. The retreat is her elegant enticement to grab a Barbour jacket and wellies from the vestibule and get into nature. Hence another five-month closure, so that when the hotel fully reopened this month it had two new estate-to-plate restaurants and three extra bedrooms (bringing the total to 20), all large and light-filled with a mix of classic and contemporary furniture, as well as the retreat.<\/p>\n

\"AOne of the 20 bedrooms at the hotel<\/p>\n

First things first, if you come looking for a bells-and-whistles spa you\u2019ll be disappointed. This is a wellness space that reflects the size and down-to-earth friendliness of Cromlix, so there\u2019s no swimming pool, no thermal suite, no gym, no juice bar and, rather wonderfully, no other people either.<\/p>\n

The retreat is a gingerbread cottage, playing hide and seek with the ferns and rhododendrons at the end of a winding woodchip path. It could just about hold two but has been designed for one, because Kim, Andy and I all agree that there\u2019s absolutely nothing relaxing about a couples\u2019 treatment. Who wants quality me-time compromised by having to endure their partner listing their sports injuries (imagine how long that would take Andy), followed shortly thereafter by them snoring.<\/p>\n

Inside I find a cutesy sitting room with exposed stone, battered beams, herringbone brick floor and comfy armchairs. Framed pressed flowers adorn one sage green wall, there\u2019s a tiny forest green relaxation chamber and a massage room in muted shades of moss and fawn. It\u2019s a 3D invitation to drop your shoulders and decompress, although I\u2019d have loved a wood-burning stove to crank up its Christmas card cosiness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AThere is also a sauna and plunge pool on site<\/p>\n

You can have a 50-minute massage (\u00a3140) after 5.30pm. At other times you must book an 80-minute ritual (\u00a3195), in line with Kim\u2019s concept to surrender to indulgent idleness. I try the Bamford Signature Treatment, which combines Japanese, Swedish and Indian techniques with a rosemary oil so ethically sourced it could withstand scrutiny by Radio 4\u2019s Moral Maze. I also have MODM\u2019s Signature Holistic Experience. The fashion guru Anya Hindmarch is a fan of this Edinburgh-based skincare company, and this impressive massage features breathwork, meditation and a hand-blended neroli and rose body balm, which proves a pleasingly silky alternative to traditional oils.<\/p>\n

Contrast therapy down by the water<\/p>\n

Later, my husband and I stroll down a boardwalk to the edge of the lochan, the estate\u2019s minty mini lake, for stress-busting contrast therapy. Again, it\u2019s a just-for-you experience and offers peak pastoral pampering, with a barrel sauna and plunge pool, a privacy screen of silver birch and ash trees, a carpet of moss and a peek through the reeds to graceful swans, unruffled by their cygnets hitching a ride on their backs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their water looks colder than our pool\u2019s, which is a comfortable 12.5C, and I imagine ours is cleaner. It\u2019s fresh spring water from a borehole that plunges 650ft. We bob between sauna and pool, listen to willow warblers, watch goldfinches flit between branches and relish the dopamine high from this quiet time in nature.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We get more estate appreciation via the tasting menu at the dark and moody 16-seat Cradle, one of two new restaurants overseen by the chef James Mearing. From the zestiness of the garden herb sorbet to the lemon curd with Cromlix pine, via west coast scallops, north coast turbot and Borders lamb saddle, it\u2019s a rewarding romp through the region.<\/p>\n

\"OutdoorThe Garden Room has uninterrupted views of the hotel\u2019s grounds<\/p>\n

The new family-friendly Garden Room restaurant has floor-to-ceiling windows, so whether you\u2019re at a banquette, a booth or a bistro table, you have a grandstand view over the lawn to stands of Douglas fir and copper beech. The eclectic menu should please all generations, covering bases from twice-baked cheese souffl\u00e9s to spicy roasted cauliflower with pomegranate salad. Service throughout is charming and blissfully unhurried \u2014 noteworthy these days when understaffing means many hotel teams can seem a little harassed.<\/p>\n

As I leave, I remember that incredible day on the grass courts of SW19 when Andy squandered three championship points and had to fend off three break points before finally claiming his first Wimbledon title. I had screamed, hidden behind the sofa and could really have done with gas and air to get through it. If only I\u2019d been able to have a day at Cromlix\u2019s Woodland Retreat before that match, I might have looked as cool, calm and collected as Kim.<\/p>\n

All recommendations within this article are informed by expert editorial opinion. If you click on a link in this story we may earn affiliate revenue<\/p>\n

Susan d\u2019Arcy was a guest of Cromlix, which has B&B doubles from \u00a3445 (cromlix.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kim and Andy Murray represent very different faces of wellness. The tennis player was famous for a punishing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-650084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}