Peace of Mind: Turn Down at Home
GET SOME ZZZS
We all know that it’s incredibly important to get a good night’s sleep – for both our physical and mental well-being. Right now though, with homes becoming make-shift offices and/or schools, and with the air heavy with anxiety and worry for the future, it’s easy to see how many of us are struggling to get our 8-hours in. To help with this, we’ve put together our tips on creating your own turn-down experience at home, to set you up for a proper rest as well as creating your very own Alexander Moment.
PS – Temple Spa are giving our readers 10% off! Code at the end of the feature.
Firstly, for a great sleep the prep starts much earlier in the day, by cutting out caffeine after lunch – and <insert collective groan> cutting out the wine with supper too. If you can commit to that in readiness for your sleep ritual you’ll be set up well. The second big piece of pre-planning is committing to a schedule. You’ll want to make time for a proper bath and getting under the sheets at a sensible time – so work backwards from there to figure out when to have supper, which of course shouldn’t be too close to bedtime.
STEP 1. BATHE In our hotels, most rooms have lovely big bathtubs – it’s one of the luxuries we rarely afford ourselves in our day-to-day routines but cherish when we’re away. It’s well known a good soak will help melt away the tensions of the day, and if you can give yourself the time, will help you mentally decompress too. We recommend 30 minutes (or more if you can) in a lovely hot bath – it will work wonders – if you’re prone to getting fidgety, take a book in with you, or pop some music on or maybe a podcast. Whatever soothes you is fine – and as always, everything is made better by candles.
For a luxurious treat, we recommend ‘DRIFT AWAY’, the relaxing bath & massage oil from Temple Spa. Packed full of essential oils including lavender, patchouli, geranium, chamomile & sweet almond, it’s soothingly aromatic and feels glorious on your skin. Pour in a cap under running water, soak and feel the difference. Also, it’s lovely for massage to relax, but also we suggest applying some to your shoulders, back of neck and decollete for the aromas to help you drift off.
Temple Spa Drift Away Massage & Bath Oil – £25, 100ml | The bathtub in The Huntington Suite at Alexander House
STEP 2. TURN DOWN There is something so special about arriving to your hotel room after supper, with the sheets turned down, the lighting set just right and little treats awaiting you. So why not do it at home? To start, if you have bedside lamps pop them on and make sure any overhead lights are off. Secondly, at home we like to fold back the duvet by around 1/3 in a straight fold across the bed, and arrange the pillows against the headboard at 45o angles – after of course, plumping thoroughly. On your bedside table, leave a bottle of water (still, at ambient temperature) and a fresh glass.
Speaking of pillows – we have some opinions on those too! Our pillows in the hotels are supplied by Hanse Textilvertrieb of Germany to our exact specifications, and our standard pillows are 198 thread count cotton with 900g synthetic fill weights, for a supportive, breathable sleep. You can buy pillows direct from us with details below.
We also love our pyjamas being neatly folded at turn-down. It may feel a little contrived, but all of these touches add up to a feeling of contentment and helps you on your journey to a good night’s sleep.
We can’t get enough candlelight in our lives we say, and so it goes without saying that we would also recommend lighting a couple – ideally including oils like geranium, petitgrain, lavender, frankincense & patchouli. As luck would have it, we found one that has it all.
Temple Spa ‘Siesta Forever’ Candle – £25
STEP 3. CHILL OUT It’s important to give yourself a little more wind-down time rather than just jumping in and hoping sleep will come. One of our favourite off-the-shelf aids is Pukka’s Night-Time tea. The combination of oatflower, chamomile, limeflower and lavender is faintly sweet and soothingly herbal. If you happen to have a herb garden at home that has chamomile, you can steep the flowers in a pot of water directly for a wonderful fresh brew to aid your slumber. Our top tip now, is to get in your fresh pyjamas, sip on your tea and pick up a good book – leave the phones and the tablets to the side. Scrolling never helped anyone’s anxiety.
Ready for bed in The Nursery Suite at Great Fosters
STEP 4. LIGHTS OUT Time to catch those elusive zzzs. After your usual routine, there are three more tips up our sleeves to support a great rest. First, is the classic hotel turn down treat – pillow mist. Temple Spa’s ‘Quietude’ is gorgeous to spritz on your pillows before settling down to sleep, with another layer of lavender and other classic spa scents like vetiver and cedar wood. Allow the mist to dry on the pillow and whilst you’re doing that, apply your night creams.
Our suggestions are the delightful ‘Repose’ cream, which we celebrated in our ‘Radiant Facial At Home‘ post – a deeply moisturising night cream with beautiful aromatics all chosen to support you getting some rest. For your body, we recommend ‘Duvet’ – a sumptuous body cream rich in omega oils to nourish your skin as well as more of the delicious aromatics to tuck you up and send you off to sleep.
Repose £40 50ml / Quietude £25 100ml / Duvet £29 150ml
Finally, and perhaps most importantly of all is of course your actual bed. Not so much the frame but the mattress is essential to help you getting a good night’s rest. Around the AHC we trust Hypnos. The mattresses we buy from Hypnos, ‘the most comforable beds in the World’ with a Royal warrant from HM Elizabeth II, are their finest, with a combination of cashmere, wool and eOlus sustainable fibre to help regulate your body temperature, finished in Belgian damask. For a true ‘hotel’ sleep, you can purchase Hypnos mattresses from us directly.
Read about our Pillows & Mattresses here, and to order, contact Ian Heath on iheath@alexanderhotels.com or call 01342 859 777
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All products recommended from Temple Spa and can be purchased here: templespa.com/shop/aromatherapy/concern/sleep-tips
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Pillows & Mattresses – contact Ian Heath on iheath@alexanderhotels.com or call 01342 859 777 to order. Pillows £24 and Super King mattresses £2,500 – other sizes available.
Night night!