USP The idea of floating in salty mineral water, so concentrated that your body is completely supported, and you are, in effect, weightless, has appealed since I read about the Dead Sea as a boy. With news that the Dead Sea has shrunk by a third in the past 50 years, I thought I’d probably missed my chance for ever and then I was invited to the Kalmora Spa in Goudhurst, Kent, to try out what they describe as the world’s first hydroflotation therapy pool, to which is added their trademark salt-and-mineral concoction – imported from the Dead Sea. I was delighted: I’d be getting all the pleasures of a long, floaty soak - and with none of the risks of getting caught up in the next Middle Eastern crisis. The Kalmora’s Dead Sea salt baths, which contain, as well as regular salt, bromide and magnesium, are said to be particularly good for skin complaints such as eczema and psoriasisis but it was the experience of watery weightlessness that I was intrigued by: a chance to completely unwind, ease aching muscles and let my mind drift away.

AMBIENCE The spa is small, only half a dozen rooms, done-up in a New Agey style – slooshy music, silk flowers, random piles of polished pebbles -- very clean, intimate but not that easy to find, tucked away, as it is, on a back road in darkest Kent, a couple of miles outside the olde-worlde village of Goudhurst. But to my mind it’s relative reclusiveness is a plus. On the morning I visited I was the only guest: and so much the better. I don’t particularly enjoy bumping into people in a state of partial undress and I was able to receive the undivided attention of the charming 20-year-old Emma Mason, the manager-cum-receptionist-cum-bath-attendant-cum-masseuse.

EXPERIENCE After a shower, I stepped into the blood-warm hydroflotation tank – basically, a foot-and-a-half deep bath about three times the normal size – turned off the lights and lay flat on my back, bobbing gently in the pitch blackness. Warning: don’t let the water get in your eyes; it hurts like sin. And it tastes disgusting. Apart from that it was delightful, so relaxing I thought I might fall asleep, gently lapped and completely supported by the warm salty water. My mind travelled and time telescoped on itself – I was in the bath for nearly an hour. I had worried about being bored, but the experience felt as if it had lasted a mere ten minutes. After the hydroflotation, I took a steam bath, a satisfyingly sweaty detox, sluiced off in the shower and then took a “dry float” – lolling on fluffy towels on a big waterbed - for ten minutes until Emma called me through for my deep-tissue Japanese massage. For an hour, using a variety of fragrant unguents, including a delicious smelling coconut and grapefruit oil, Emma gave me a wonderful massage using Shiatsu pressure points to unlock areas of particular muscle tension. Afterwards, I felt fantastic – relaxed, refreshed and ready to face the world again.

FOOD I didn’t eat there but Emma told me that as part of some of the packages at Kalmora, a healthy lunch is included: with salads, sandwiches, and fresh fruit juices on offer.

IN CROWD I was the only one there on the day I went but Kalmora welcomes many businessmen and women on their own as well as couples. The therapy rooms are equipped with twin massage beds so that twosomes - mothers and daughters, husbands and wives - can chat lazily and be pampered at the same time.

WALLET WATCH Not cheap, but not too bad either: a 60-minute hydroflotation therapy session costs £45; a 60-minute relax and restore massage: £55; an eyelash tint is £10. A five-hour package of six treatments, including a light lunch, costs £156.

NEED TO KNOW Kalmora Spa, Winchet Hill, Goudhurst, Kent (01580 212953; www.kalmoraspa.com). The Kalmora Spa Group also has spas in Birmingham; Plymouth, Ipswich and Chester, email info@kalmoraspa.com for more details.

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