Yes! Send me the FREE digital editions of Spa Business and Spa Business insider magazines and the FREE weekly Spa Business and Spa Business insider ezines and breaking news alerts!
Bradbury turned to nature immersion when dealing with IVF and cancer / photo: David Venni
Julia Bradbury is a UK TV presenter who passionately believes the great outdoors can lead to healing and happiness.
The outdoors lover won the hearts of the nation on the BBC programme Countryfile, which she first appeared on 20 years ago and has written six walking books, including the bestseller Walk Yourself Happy. Bradbury credits nature therapy with helping her through fertility struggles and survive breast cancer in recent years. She says these life events made her fundamentally overhaul her approach to wellbeing and led her to explore nutrition, breathwork, exercise, spending more time outdoors and activities such as yoga, grounding yourself in nature and sound bathing.
Now, Bradbury dedicates her time to championing the benefits of nature immersion and walking and has created a spa retreat which will debut at South Lodge Hotel in England in September.
Moving meditation The two-day event, hosted by Bradbury in person, is based on the Walk Yourself Happy philosophy. Chapters of her book will be brought to life through a blend of expert-led sessions, group conversations and nature-based activities.
“I wanted to bring together a group of experts who had been so transformative in my own personal journey and, together with them, lead others through a series of life-changing, wellbeing practices in a focused retreat,” says Bradbury.
“I know that the guests at our retreats will feel truly energised by spending time doing breathwork, aroma-sound, forest bathing, nutrition work and, of course, going on a nature walk with me.”
Specialists involved in the retreat include breathwork practitioner and Oxygen Advantage founder Patrick McKeown; holistic practitioner Lisa Pauley from AromaSounds and Wildfitness CEO Hannah Beadle, who will teach participants how to unlock the freedom of movement.
Bradbury will be on hand throughout the retreat to share the ethos of cumulative wellbeing practices and host live readings from her books, nature walks and Q+As.
Guests will also enjoy daily nutrition talks and curated meals, sound baths, cold water swimming, playtime in nature and the South Lodge spa (see www.spabusiness.com/southlodge).
The upcoming experience is running in tandem with The Outdoor Guide – an online resource for outdoor enthusiasts – which Bradbury founded in 2014. Spaces are limited to 25 people and cost £1,650 (US$2,126, €1,958pp).
Hiking renaissance Bradbury has plans for more retreats in the UK for 2025 and joins a number of leading names incorporating outdoor walking programmes. Notable operators which are now focusing on hiking range from The Ranch and Golden Door in the US to Sensei in Hawaii and Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany.
Spa Business expects even more spas will tap into ‘moving meditation’ in the near future and has included the trend in its newly-released 2024/25 Spa Foresight predictions (see www.spabusiness.com/foresight2024).
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2024 issue 3
Editor's letter: At a crossroads
As the UK prepares to host this year's Global Wellness Summit, fresh research shows its wellness industry must address a number of issues if it's to maintain levels of unprecedented growth
Spa People: Charlotte Church
The Welsh singer talks about how growing up in the media spotlight has influenced The Dreaming, her healing retreat business
Spa People: Julia Bradbury
Leading a series of Walk Yourself Happy retreats based on her best-selling book and years of TV presenting
Spa People: Samantha Dunn
Shaking up the industry with her new, affordable DIY consultancy programme for entrepreneurs
News report: Big spenders
Finn Partners’ latest research shows how China’s high-net-worth women are redefining luxury travel
News report: Step back in time
Two new GWI reports analyse the growth of the global spa and hot springs markets over the past 10 to 15 years
Interview: Dillip Rajakarier
Following a 450 per cent increase in core revenues, Minor Hotels is planning 200 more properties. Megan Whitby sits down with its CEO
New opening: Kintsugi Space
Patrizia Bortolin talks to Lisa Starr about creating a transformative women-only sanctuary in Abu Dhabi
Research: To inform and inspire
The UK Spa Association has conducted its first survey of spa businesses in the country for 18 years. GM Bobby Griffiths unveils the numbers
Research: From wellness to wellbeing
A new study uncovers four wellness consumer market segments ripe for innovation. WELLSurvey co-author Kevin Kelly reveals the findings in a Spa Business exclusive
First person: To the source
Jane Kitchen takes to the sulphurous waters of Terme di Saturnia in Italy and shares details about its exciting upcoming sister site in Milan
Promotion: L'OCCITANE en Provence – the art of recovery
With an approach to wellbeing that’s both holistic and grounded in science, the latest massage from L’OCCITANE en Provence promises to have a powerfully-beneficial effect on customers, both in the spa and at home
New opening: Surrenne at The Emory
The £15k memberships at this wellness club in London sold out in just weeks. Creator Inge Theron tells us why
First person: Playful wellness
A Stella McCartney facial and Tracy Anderson studio are just two USPs Megan Whitby finds at Surrenne
Promotion: TechnoAlpin – naturally cool design
TechnoAlpin’s snow technology is not only an effective way to introduce gentle cold therapy into the spa environment, it’s also a powerful biophilic design element that can bring the wonder of nature indoors
Promotion: Biologique Recherche – potent partnership
A new anti-senescence serum from Biologique Recherche offers transformative results and raises the bar in anti-ageing skincare when combined with its iconic collagen formula
Promotion: Comfort Zone – A longer life for skin
Created to combat the visible signs of ageing, Comfort Zone’s latest range revamp is based on the company’s pioneering research into cutaneous cellular longevity
Promotion: G.M. COLLIN – Clinical excellence in skincare
With laboratories based in Montreal, G.M. Collin’s highly researched derma-corrective treatments have been helping skincare professionals deliver exceptional and exclusive results worldwide for many decades. We talk to VP Myriam Sayer
Bradbury turned to nature immersion when dealing with IVF and cancer / photo: David Venni
Julia Bradbury is a UK TV presenter who passionately believes the great outdoors can lead to healing and happiness.
The outdoors lover won the hearts of the nation on the BBC programme Countryfile, which she first appeared on 20 years ago and has written six walking books, including the bestseller Walk Yourself Happy. Bradbury credits nature therapy with helping her through fertility struggles and survive breast cancer in recent years. She says these life events made her fundamentally overhaul her approach to wellbeing and led her to explore nutrition, breathwork, exercise, spending more time outdoors and activities such as yoga, grounding yourself in nature and sound bathing.
Now, Bradbury dedicates her time to championing the benefits of nature immersion and walking and has created a spa retreat which will debut at South Lodge Hotel in England in September.
Moving meditation The two-day event, hosted by Bradbury in person, is based on the Walk Yourself Happy philosophy. Chapters of her book will be brought to life through a blend of expert-led sessions, group conversations and nature-based activities.
“I wanted to bring together a group of experts who had been so transformative in my own personal journey and, together with them, lead others through a series of life-changing, wellbeing practices in a focused retreat,” says Bradbury.
“I know that the guests at our retreats will feel truly energised by spending time doing breathwork, aroma-sound, forest bathing, nutrition work and, of course, going on a nature walk with me.”
Specialists involved in the retreat include breathwork practitioner and Oxygen Advantage founder Patrick McKeown; holistic practitioner Lisa Pauley from AromaSounds and Wildfitness CEO Hannah Beadle, who will teach participants how to unlock the freedom of movement.
Bradbury will be on hand throughout the retreat to share the ethos of cumulative wellbeing practices and host live readings from her books, nature walks and Q+As.
Guests will also enjoy daily nutrition talks and curated meals, sound baths, cold water swimming, playtime in nature and the South Lodge spa (see www.spabusiness.com/southlodge).
The upcoming experience is running in tandem with The Outdoor Guide – an online resource for outdoor enthusiasts – which Bradbury founded in 2014. Spaces are limited to 25 people and cost £1,650 (US$2,126, €1,958pp).
Hiking renaissance Bradbury has plans for more retreats in the UK for 2025 and joins a number of leading names incorporating outdoor walking programmes. Notable operators which are now focusing on hiking range from The Ranch and Golden Door in the US to Sensei in Hawaii and Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany.
Spa Business expects even more spas will tap into ‘moving meditation’ in the near future and has included the trend in its newly-released 2024/25 Spa Foresight predictions (see www.spabusiness.com/foresight2024).
Read more from this issue of Spa Business magazine
View contents of Spa Business 2024 issue 3
Editor's letter: At a crossroads
As the UK prepares to host this year's Global Wellness Summit, fresh research shows its wellness industry must address a number of issues if it's to maintain levels of unprecedented growth
Spa People: Charlotte Church
The Welsh singer talks about how growing up in the media spotlight has influenced The Dreaming, her healing retreat business
Spa People: Julia Bradbury
Leading a series of Walk Yourself Happy retreats based on her best-selling book and years of TV presenting
Spa People: Samantha Dunn
Shaking up the industry with her new, affordable DIY consultancy programme for entrepreneurs
News report: Big spenders
Finn Partners’ latest research shows how China’s high-net-worth women are redefining luxury travel
News report: Step back in time
Two new GWI reports analyse the growth of the global spa and hot springs markets over the past 10 to 15 years
Interview: Dillip Rajakarier
Following a 450 per cent increase in core revenues, Minor Hotels is planning 200 more properties. Megan Whitby sits down with its CEO
New opening: Kintsugi Space
Patrizia Bortolin talks to Lisa Starr about creating a transformative women-only sanctuary in Abu Dhabi
Research: To inform and inspire
The UK Spa Association has conducted its first survey of spa businesses in the country for 18 years. GM Bobby Griffiths unveils the numbers
Research: From wellness to wellbeing
A new study uncovers four wellness consumer market segments ripe for innovation. WELLSurvey co-author Kevin Kelly reveals the findings in a Spa Business exclusive
First person: To the source
Jane Kitchen takes to the sulphurous waters of Terme di Saturnia in Italy and shares details about its exciting upcoming sister site in Milan
Promotion: L'OCCITANE en Provence – the art of recovery
With an approach to wellbeing that’s both holistic and grounded in science, the latest massage from L’OCCITANE en Provence promises to have a powerfully-beneficial effect on customers, both in the spa and at home
New opening: Surrenne at The Emory
The £15k memberships at this wellness club in London sold out in just weeks. Creator Inge Theron tells us why
First person: Playful wellness
A Stella McCartney facial and Tracy Anderson studio are just two USPs Megan Whitby finds at Surrenne
Promotion: TechnoAlpin – naturally cool design
TechnoAlpin’s snow technology is not only an effective way to introduce gentle cold therapy into the spa environment, it’s also a powerful biophilic design element that can bring the wonder of nature indoors
Promotion: Biologique Recherche – potent partnership
A new anti-senescence serum from Biologique Recherche offers transformative results and raises the bar in anti-ageing skincare when combined with its iconic collagen formula
Promotion: Comfort Zone – A longer life for skin
Created to combat the visible signs of ageing, Comfort Zone’s latest range revamp is based on the company’s pioneering research into cutaneous cellular longevity
Promotion: G.M. COLLIN – Clinical excellence in skincare
With laboratories based in Montreal, G.M. Collin’s highly researched derma-corrective treatments have been helping skincare professionals deliver exceptional and exclusive results worldwide for many decades. We talk to VP Myriam Sayer
Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai in Hoi An, Vietnam, has put together a Global Wellness Day
(GWD) agenda with activations rooted in nature and shaped by four pillars of Joy – in
alignment with the day’s theme #JoyMagenta.
The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) will celebrate its 20th anniversary at the 2026 event in
Phuket, Thailand, later this year with the theme: The Science, Art and Soul of Wellness.
Auko, an all-inclusive development, is opening in Phong Nha in Vietnam in Q3 2026, with a
series of 30 tented eco-lodges and wellness hospitality operations by Lumina Wellbeing.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Naples Beach Club, a Four Seasons Resort, has opened a 2,800sq m spa called The Sanctuary,
with the design and concept inspired by the Native American people that populated Florida’s
Southwest coast – the Calusa.
Swire Hotels’ luxury hospitality brand Upper House has revealed it will roll out its two-day
House of Healing retreats at its three hotels in Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
LVMH-owned beauty house Guerlain will launch up to five spas with partners a year as part of
its plan to expand globally, according to the brand’s international spa and wellness director,
Diane Davody.
A new global study by Kevin Kelly and Peter Yesawich, called WELLSurvey 2.0, has revealed
more than half of consumers in the UK, US and Germany would not choose numerous high-
profile wellness resort brands for a future trip.
Luxury hospitality and wellness pioneer Jeremy McCarthy has launched Leisure Alchemy, a
digital platform that will provide professionals with strategic guidance on how to build
transformational leisure experiences that drive profit.
