I'VE ambled from the soothing bubbles of the Vitality pool and waded into the swimming pool for a leisurely couple of lengths. Or do they count as lengths when the pool is hexagonal? Either way, it feels like quite enough energy expended for now. I need to save something for my trip to the treatment rooms, where later I'll lie in blissful semi-slumber, as the knots in my poor too-much-time-at-a-computer shaped back are deftly eased away, just in time for me to dander off to dinner.
Growing up, my hopes for birthday gifts were always a 'thing', maybe a new Barbie or Polly Pocket, later progressing to a new Phone or fancy hair straighteners. Now — with two young kids and a fulltime job on the go — all I ever want for my birthday is the gift of time. Specifically 'me time', where I can be pampered, wined and dined (in peace) and spend a night sleeping (for more consecutive hours than are ever afforded to me at home) in the biggest, comfiest bed known to man.
Enter a birthday break at the gorgeous Culloden Estate and Spa. Nestled in the Holywood Hills, six miles from Belfast City Centre, The Culloden is the grande dame of Northern Ireland's hotel scene. Part of the elite Hastings collection, the building was formerly a bishop's palace, built in 1897, and in the 1990s, made history by becoming Northern Ireland's first ever five-star-hotel.
The location is stunning, overlooking Belfast Lough. But even though you're just a short drive from the city centre, from the second you pu.