REPORT BY WENDY GOLLEDGE

In January 2019, after 40 years as managing director at Stobo Castle, Stephen Winyard stepped aside, becoming chairman and handing the reigns to his wife, Mandy, and their three children Taylor, Elliott and Mitchell. Dating back more than 1,000 years, Stobo Castle was purchased by the Winyards in 1975, opening as one of the UK’s first health farms in 1978. Gaynor ‘Granny’ Winyard, a trained beauty therapist, had one aim: for every guest to leave “utterly relaxed, looking trim, feeling vibrantly alive and superbly fit, and radiating good health”.

Two generations on, the calorie-controlled diets and strict regimes may have gone, but many things about this wellness-focused destination spa remain the same. Arriving at the castle late on a snowy January afternoon, its austere grandeur – everything you’d expect from a castle in the Scottish Borders – is juxtaposed by an entirely heartfelt welcome, roaring fires, guests strolling around the hotel in robes, unique and daringly modern interiors, a gigantic indoor olive tree taking centre stage and, in the background, the tranquil blue glow of the So Stobo spa pool.

“The castle was derelict for more than 30 years before Granny Winyard took it on,” explains managing director Elliott Winyard. “She devoted herself to Stobo and creating something unique; that’s what makes it so special. As a family business, we don’t answer to a board of directors, so changes take weeks, not months to process. We can run with crazy, creative ideas and keep the fun elements that stand out in guests’ minds.”

During lockdown in 2020 the family moved in as the hotel and spa closed for 18 months. In that time, they took the opportunity to completely refurbish the pool. “Every tile came off – Mitchell and I took that job on,” says Elliott. “That was the biggest project, and we did a lot of it ourselves. Plus, we refurbished every one of our 28 treatment rooms.”

“Granny Winyard instilled what she called the ‘three pillars’ in Dad, who is very much still a mentor to us,” says Elliott. “We’re carrying that on as those pillars have served the business incredibly well for the last 40 years: reinvestment into the guest facilities, brand awareness and the training and development of our team.”

What does the first of these pillars mean for a luxury spa in a year when businesses nationwide are negotiating a cost-of-living crisis, staff shortages and the aftermath of a global pandemic?

“Stobo Castle is a spa-first business,” explains projects and company director Mitchell Winyard. “The now 1400sqm spa underwent a £5 million expansion in 2003, but we get so many repeat visitors, we can’t ever stand still. Dad instilled the mantra of reinvestment and we’re continuing with that, despite the current climate. This year we’ll redevelop our hydrospa – we’re currently researching different facilities – and we have three new outdoor hot tubs coming from Arctic Spas in Canada. We will also be revamping the outdoor spa area this year to give it a fresh, new look.”

He adds that while guests are predominantly from Scotland and the northeast of England, the family are now marketing to staycation guests from further afield, and there is a “steady trickle” of American tourists in the warmer months.

Spa manager Lorraine King, who has been with the business since 2009, is working to fine-tune the spa experience from beginning to end. “We currently have a reservations team and a treatment schedules team; my vision is to collaborate this process, so everyone is qualified to hone the spa experience we sell for each guest’s needs,” says King.

With approximately 75-80% of business coming from returning guests, King is focused on changing treatments and facilities on a bi-annual cycle. “Returning guests do like their old treatments but this year we’ve pushed forwards with a big change. For years we’ve worked with four or five brands at a time, but it’s confusing for the guest and can be overwhelming, especially if they are new to spa.”

In a decision not taken lightly, King and her team analysed treatment sales, gathered therapist feedback and established guests’ hero treatments, then used this collated information to devise a new spa menu using only Phytomer products.

“The reason we’ve moved forward solely with Phytomer for treatments is also to make it easier on the therapists, so they can consistently provide the same care, excel at delivery and be confident in the service they’re delivering. The schedule team also only have one brand to learn and can therefore more confidently advise the best treatment for each guest – and of course it’s more manageable for the guest when choosing, too.”

Investments at the castle are funded by a circular cycle of price increases versus additions to the experiences on offer. “To elevate the experience for the guest we need to raise the price, but we can only increase prices if we escalate our offer. It’s cyclical and has to go hand in hand,” says Elliott.

“Covid meant we had to take away a lot of those added luxuries, so now we’re working to bring back all the little things that entice guests to visit or return,” adds company director Taylor Winyard, the last of the siblings to join the fold after she successfully rowed the Atlantic as part of a three-person crew last year. “Small but meaningful adjustments – Penhaligons’ products in the Cashmere and Deluxe suites, bespoke luxury teas from Edinburgh, upgraded shortbread, Dyson hairdryers – these are all talking points that have allowed us to regrade our rooms and then make small, incremental cost increases.”

With floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Peeblesshire countryside, the spa is large and airy, with a feeling of space and privacy even when at full capacity. By offering a series of very separate spa areas – a glass-fronted Swedish sauna and steam room in the mixed area, a laconium, crystal steam room and aromatic steam room in the ladies-only area and three outdoor hot tubs in the garden spa – there’s a sense of being surrounded by many new experiences.

This separation allows the family to make discrete upgrades to individual parts of the spa. “With the increase in male guests, we plan to expand our mixed facilities, and replace the three ladies-only thermal areas that were built in 2003,” says Mitchell. “How we refurbish those rooms will be influenced by this trend for more male guests and couples.”

One pillar that is less easy to successfully maintain is that of team training and development. Director Mandy Winyard (aka ‘the real boss’, according to her children) is working closely with King to improve staffing challenges.

Having trained as a beauty therapist and worked at Stobo Castle since she was 17, Mandy has experience in every department. She says: “Brexit has really impacted us; staffing and recruitment is a huge operational challenge for both the spa and the hotel. We’re going to local high school and college careers days but, crucially, we’ve recently begun inviting the students here to see what So Stobo is about.

“So many local people have an image of us as stuffy and posh – it’s not until they visit that they see we’re a down-to-earth, friendly place to work. It’s time to encourage people to come and see what we actually are. King is talking to students while they’re here, so they can see that the spa offers a real progressive career journey, and she is also looking into apprenticeships.”

Billed as Scotland’s sole destination spa, with accolades including Best Countryside Spa in the World and Best Destination Spa in the UK (World Luxury Spa Awards, 2019) as well as Global Spa of the Year (World Luxury Spa Awards, 2020) and best luxury romantic spa in the world (World Luxury Spa Awards, 2022), the Winyards are confident in Stobo Castle’s unique offering.

“There’s nothing quite like us out there, and nowhere else I know in Scotland where guests can comfortably walk around in a robe. People come to us because of our spa offering – we’re not a hotel with a spa bolted on the side,” says Taylor. “We’re spa first.”

Gift vouchers form an integral part of the So Stobo business model. Upwards of £100,000 is invested into marketing campaigns in the run-up to Christmas and, in the five years prior to Covid, voucher sales exceeded £1 million each year.

“This year we took £956,000, so it’s coming back,” says Elliott. “Plus, each month we sell an average of £60,000 in gift vouchers. From a cashflow perspective this funds our projects and means we can experiment – and buy silly lamps, which cost fortunes but make us truly unique!”

“Dad always speaks about the ‘wow’ factor,” adds Taylor. “That’s what he wants us to always remember, whether it’s the silly pineapple lamps in the cocktail lounge or having Japanese toilets in the ladies. They’re not what you’d expect to find in a centuries-old castle, and so give guests something to tell their friends about.”

The day-to-day running costs of both the spa and the castle are sustainably managed. “The whole spa roof is covered in solar panels – 460 in fact – and the spa is heated by biomass, which we set up in 2013.

Luckily, we’re surrounded by timber, so that helps offset the cost of heating the spa,” says Mandy. “We have refill stations, encourage guests to bring their own bottles and have replaced the water bottles in the room with glass ones.”

But taking the eco-friendly and sustainable route has cost implications for the business – “almost everything we’ve done to increase our sustainability costs so much more,” says Elliott. “It’s a cost increment to us, but long-term we expect it to pay off. The cost-of-living crisis could present a challenge in the coming year and our voucher sales may decrease, but we’re confident that if our guests can have one luxury they will still pick us.”

Having grown up in a cottage on the site – which is now the ladies spa bathroom – the Winyard siblings agree that Stobo is in their blood. “Dad was working in the Bahamas and got a call from Granny Winyard asking him to come and help build a new health farm. He’s got to be the only man to have bought a one-way ticket from paradise to Peebles!” says Elliott. “He loves Stobo, he’s passionate about spa, and we were born here, we’ve seen it grow and develop. Now we’re taking that forward into a new era.”

+44 (0) 1721 725300 | www.stobocastle.co.uk

Owners: The Winyard family | Managing director: Elliott Winyard | Spa manager: Lorraine King | Design and interiors: Lizzie Bell Interiors |Spa team: 22 | Spa size: 1,400sqm | Treatment rooms: 28 | Fitness: Precor, Peloton and Queenax, a full programme of fitness classes including ChiBall, kettlebells, yoga nidra, HIIT and Qigong. | Treatment beds: Lemi | Thermal areas: Inca, Aquateq, Arctic Spas | Pools: Aquateq Pools | Product partners: Phytomer, Made for Life Cancer Touch Therapy, Mii Cosmetics, Natural Spa Factory (white-labelled So Stobo products), Penhaligons, Pekoe tea, Villeneuve Wine in Peebles, Walkers shortbread, Wellsystem Wave water beds | Textiles: FloLuxe towels and bathrobes, Shortridge laundry, BC SoftWear spa linen