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From Times Online

August 20, 2008

SK Clinic and Spa, Bury St. Edmunds

The treatments are spot on at this new boutique spa housed in a converted chapel in Suffolk

Mark Frary

USP Boutique chic and ultra-personal attention in a converted chapel in the medieval town of Bury St Edmunds.

AMBIENCE The SK Clinic has a beautiful setting - a former Italianate chapel a few minutes’ walk from the centre of Bury St Edmunds, famous for its abbey. The chapel has been completely refurbished throughout in a style that will be instantly familiar to anyone who has stayed in an urban boutique hotel.

In the waiting lounge upstairs, a vast modern chandelier hangs over a grey banquette punctuated by posh cushions. Large prints of faces – the Mona Lisa, Audrey Hepburn and more – keep their beady eyes on you while vases of fresh flowers and a bowl of fresh cherries are welcome extra touches.

There’s more boutique chic in the treatment rooms – lots of natural tones on the walls, Nordic furniture in dark wood and ultra-thick chocolate robes and towels. The upper rooms are more clinical, in keeping with their use for treatments such as waxing.

The sound system was having a few teething problems on my visit but when it did work the harp and flute music gave the spa a calm, bucolic feel to it.

QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE I chose to go for a facial and a Refresh hot-stone treatment.

My therapist, Sarah, was very knowledgeable about the products and explained that the Pevonia Botanica products the spa uses had considerably higher fruit-acid content than products available on the high street. “Imagine them as miniature Pacmen nibbling away at the dead skin,” she said.

Before the facial, Sarah examined my face under a magnifying UV light to see the extent of any skin damage caused by my sunburnt childhood days on the beaches of Norfolk. Sarah reassured me there was little long-term damage.

I had originally chosen to have a Skin Fit facial but after examining my skin – prone to spots despite my advancing years – Sarah recommended instead a prescriptive facial. The creams felt very active on my skin but smelled good enough to eat, thanks to all that fruit acid. I felt rejuvenated and, for a few hours anyway, younger than my 40 years. (As an aside, my chin erupted with spots a week or so later - a common side-effect from facials - but my skin has been clearer than before ever since.)

The stone treatment was a delight. You always worry about the therapist dropping the stones on you but Sarah was assured in her placement of them and the whole experience was relaxing. The accompanying neck message did much to iron out the stress from organising my recent kid-filled 40th party.

My wife went for the Tropical Oasis Wrap and prescriptive facial. “The wrap was fiddly but was done in a very discreet manner so I didn’t feel embarrassed,” she said. “My skin felt so soft afterwards, too.”

As a long-time user of La Prairie creams, she was pleased to find the products used in the facial felt “very high quality”. “The facial incorporated lots of small pats. It was very professionally done and I felt like my face had come alive again afterwards,” she said.

For her, the best feature of the clinic was its very personalised service. “When I have visited other clinics, you can hear people in neighbouring cubicles. I could well imagine coming back here again for a two-hour pick-me-up rather than going out to some country pile,” she said.

PRODUCTS The Pevonia Botanica name isn’t so well known in the UK but the firm claims it has more than 50 per cent of the skincare market in the US. The firm was set up by husband and wife team Philippe and Sylvie Hennessy in 1991 and are non-comedogenic (they don’t block your pores) and are not tested on animals. They contain no artificial fragrances, alcohol, mineral oil, lanolin or PABA (a compound that has been shown to raise the risk of skin cancer).

My therapist Sarah said: “The company don’t want us to hard sell the products but rather for the customer to want to buy them because they work,” she said. Spot on.

FOOD AND DRINK The spa can arrange for light lunches if you give them 24 hours’ notice. The food is prepared in-house from locally sourced ingredients and based on a seasonal menu. The grilled lime and chilli-marinated chicken with salad and a wonderfully light gruyere and vegetable tart was fresh, very tasty and the portions perfectly sized for keeping trim. The strawberry smoothies felt indulgent but healthy. The food here is definitely not an afterthought.

IN-CROWD You can see the SK Clinic being popular with regular visitors to Ladies Day at Newmarket Races (Britain’s racing capital is 25 minutes away), chic geeks from Cambridge (40 minutes away) and well-heeled couples from along the Suffolk/Essex border. Manager Tonia Reed also reckons the spa will be popular with hen parties and gentleman’s club nights. For the latter, they offer hot shaves and a wide range of male treatments in more masculine-themed treatment rooms.

WALLET WATCH A Refresh hot-stone therapy lasting 45 minutes costs £65 while the prescriptive facial (1 hour) costs £45 and the Tropical Oasis body wrap (1 hour) £65.

NEED TO KNOW SK Clinic and Spa, Victory Chapel, 4 Northgate Street, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1HG (01284 748470; www.skclinic.co.uk). Open 9am to 8pm (Mon-Fri), 9am to 6pm (Sat) and 10am to 6pm (Sun).