There’s nothing like arresting design to get you in the mood for time spent in your own company. Revelling in me-time, my afternoon — set aside for a three-hour personalised and multi-faceted body treatment — began with a tour of Spier’s beautifully appointed spa.
Moving away from the minimalistic principles so often embraced in spas of late, Spier celebrates the colours of nature. Hues found across the expansive estate and its vineyards — verdant greens, gentle duck-egg blue, and richer shades of terracotta — echo throughout the interiors. The palette translates into a sense of natural abundance: plants, water and, of course, the soil itself.
Light wood with touches of dried herbs complements the aesthetic, bringing the surrounding environment warmly into the design. The overall effect is one of generous comfort. While the focus of treatment is very much on sound phytotherapy discipline, the ceremony of nature’s bounty is celebrated in beautifully detailed rooms and thoughtful décor.
Inspired by the Cape Floral Kingdom
The Cape Herbal Bath House, in particular, is a space unlike anything I have encountered in my 20-plus years as a beauty journalist on the South African spa landscape. The very essence of the concept is so rooted in the Cape Floral Kingdom that it’s something to be greatly excited about.
Leaning into the region’s extraordinary biodiversity, the spa has created treatments that blend ancient plant healing with today’s skincare advancements. Through phytotherapy, the approach draws on the medicinal properties of plants to support skin health and overall wellbeing.
Take the spa’s Vine Therapy range of natural, chemical-free formulas (for face and body). These combine aromatherapy oils, botanical extracts, and medicinal Cape herbal essences. The clean skincare line goes beyond simple pampering, offering treatments designed to rebalance the skin, deeply nourish it, and slow visible signs of ageing.
The Cape Herbal Bath House Ritual
Back to the Cape Herbal Bath House as an experience — the spa’s signature treatment. After all, it was the reason I was able to clock out of my normal routine and discover our Cape Floral Kingdom in skin-approved tincture form. Think scrubs, shea butter, a herbal poultice for your bath, and so on.
Spa Director Claudia van Wyk customised my treatment with a “Sleep” aromatherapy oil, blending rosewood, lavender, and neroli to quieten my mind (an achievement) and encourage the release of anxiety. She also prepared a second blend designed to energise, combining cinnamon, frankincense, lavender, and lemon to support the immune system.
Even the cold-pressed organic juice I sipped during the afternoon was specially chosen: a pear and beetroot blend said to support gut health.
As the name suggests, the bath itself is the centrepiece of the Cape Herbal Bath House experience. The long soak in the tub is where much of the phyto-magic begins to take effect. Again, Claudia was very strategic: a herbal infusion of rose geranium, rooibos, wild rose, and gotu kola, thoughtfully selected to balance hormones, detox the liver and kidneys, and calm and nourish the nervous system.
A Ritual of Herbs, Water and Stone
The session begins with cleansing — including a full-body exfoliation on a warm stone table. A gently polishing scrub refines the skin without stripping it, while the detoxification process helps fire up the lymphatic system and prepares the body to absorb healing herbs and minerals.
The herbal immersion that follows — in a deep bathtub — is a warm, cocooning experience that not only feels comforting but also private, thanks to a soft linen wrap that envelops the body.
Handmade herbal poultices, blended on-site by the phytotherapist, are then used during a pressure-point scalp and neck massage. It’s the kind of indulgence that will make any future bath feel slightly disappointing by comparison.
More massage follows, this time on a massage bed with stones collected from the Eerste River, the body of water that flows through the Spier estate. Shea butter is applied to deeply hydrate and renew the skin after its cleanse, scrub, and soak.
And if you’ve worked up an appetite after all this indulgence, know that a wholesome spa lunch with a glass of Spier wine or sparkling grape juice awaits.
Beyond the Bath House
Apart from the Cape Herbal Bath House, the spa is home to multiple treatment rooms — single, double and even triple options — a mani-pedi lounge, a Mindful Movement Studio, an infrared sauna, two steam rooms, cold therapy, lymph drainage, a striking relaxation lounge with a fireplace, and a charming garden with a swimming pool.
What more could you ask for?
