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 grilled quail in the Palm Court, croquet on the brushed emerald lawn, and afternoon tea in the vaulted 43-foot-high Cathedral Room.
The centerpiece of the resort is the Old Course, a historic championship golf course, built in 1929 to rival Gleneagles and Turnberry in Scotland, that occupies about two-thirds of Bovey's 295 acres. The rest is made up of lakes, rivers, Victorian gardens, herbaceous borders. sloping lawns, and rolling parkland. There's plenty of room for Bovey's many diversions, including archery, falconry, boating, fly fishing, shooting, and horseback riding.
 Life at Bovey Castle may feel like a Gosford Park house party, but it hasn't forgotten that mandatory 21st century essential: a spa. It is the jewel of the spacious new Orangery, an architectural wing that blends seamlessly with the crenellated manor. The top floor Clubhouse offers light lunch. The ground level houses an elegant midnight blue-tiled indoor swimming pool that ends in a circular whirlpool. It opens onto the Sun Terrace and a welcoming outdoor pool overlooking the Bovey River below, and Dartmoor's green hills and grazing sheep beyond.
The rest of the Orangery is devoted to the spa itself: five treatment rooms, a hydrotherapy suite for two with whirlpool, steam and sauna, a manicure and pedicure salon, fitness equipment, and a light-filled relaxation room with comfortable wicker chairs for sipping herbal teas and reading British country periodicals.
For its wide variety of treatments the spa now features only Elemis products because they are English and they are available only in spas rather than over-the-counter, which gives them a welcome cachet. Moreover, Elemis's aromatherapy products, developed to treat clients holistically with plant essential oils and marine extracts mixed in natural bases, also reflect the Bovey spa philosophy.
Perhaps as a tribute to the British peaches and cream complexion÷and here in Dartmoor, make that Devon cream--Bovey's signature spa treatment is not a massage or a wrap but an Anti-Aging Facial. How deliciously English.
Actually there are two of them: the Visible Brilliance Facial combats aging, stressed and slackened skin and includes neck, shoulder, scalp and arm massages, as well as face and eye treatments; the Pro-Collagen Marine Facial focuses on reducing fine lines and wrinkles on the face and around the eyes to slow the visible signs of aging. Both are 75-minutes long and cost £100.
I chose Visible Brilliance (it covered more territory), and an enthusiastic young therapist, Nadine Isaac, led me to a treatment room. She promised to write down everything she did as I drifted off into sweet-smelling bliss. Here is her summary of the 16-step treatment:
 ● Cleanse skin with an aromatic rose petal cleansing milk with vitamins E and F to moisturize and rehydrate, and remove cleanser with a rehydrating ginseng toner.
● Open pores with hot lavender compress.
● Massage neck, shoulders and face with skin bliss capsules, a high anti-oxidant formulation from the oil of the "miracle" moringa tree.
● Exfoliate skin with gel of Moroccan rose, cucumber, and jojoba beads, then remove it with hot compress.
● Counteract the environmental effects of pollution, sun, and poor diet with liquid radiance, a two-phase treatment that first optimizes the pH balance with amino acids and proteins, and then with vitamin A,C, and E to encourage collagen synthesis.
● Massage scalp, and then hands and arms with frangipani monoi oil, a blend of coconut coprah oil and sweet scented frangipani flowers.
● Apply an exotic cream moisturizing mask that blends mimosa, amino acid-rich honey, immune-boosting sea rocket, mallow, echinacea, mandarin, and bergamot.
● Awaken client with an energizing hot lime compress for a pro-collagen lifting treatment that improves elasticity and reduces skin crepiness at neck and bust.
● Refine eye tissues and minimize dark circles with a light serum of herbal actives that includes rosewood, comfrey, lavender, and chamomile, then over it apply a cream of plant collagen, healing myrrh, avocado, and horsetail extracts plus vitamins A, B, and D to reduce fine lines around eyes and mouth and nourish these vulnerable areas.
● Improve skin elasticity, suppleness, and firmness with pro-collagen marine cream, a maximum concentration of the powerful marine extract, Padina Pavonica.
Nadine woke me to the gentle chime of Tibetan "tingsha" bells, two small metal cymbal-like disks.
How did I feel? Totally relaxed, of course, and despite all the creams and oils, my face felt smooth and firm, not a bit greasy, just - well - velvety.
 The last step of my treatment, the pro-collagen marine cream, so intrigued me that I vowed the next time I come to Bovey Castle, I'll take the other signature treatment, the Pro-Collagen Marine Facial. Elemis's wildly successful marine cream, three years in development and derived from Padina Pavonica, a brown Mediterranean algae that mimics the skin, has been clinically proved to reduce the depth of wrinkles by 19% and increase long-term hydration by 10% after 15 days. That's good enough for me.
A number of more targeted treatments round out Bovey's focus on facials. Among them are the Oxygen SkinCalm Facial (75 minutes, £88) to relieve redness and soothe stressed and irritated skin; S.O.S. Purifying Facial (75 minutes, £88), to calm irritation and rebalance oil-rich pores; Fruit Active Glow (50 minutes, £70) to revive a dull lifeless complexion with Eastern massage techniques; Exotic Moisture Dew (50 minutes, £70) for a moisture boost; Herbal Lavender Repair (50 minutes, £70) to draw out skin impurities, reduce unwanted shine, refine the pores, and treat skin breakouts.
A full menu of massages ranges from traditional Swedish full body massage (50 minutes, £75) and aromatherapy (50 minutes, £75) to deep tissue (50 minutes, £75) and aroma stone therapy (75 minutes, £85), as well as reflexology (75 minutes, £75) and reiki (50 minutes, £70).
Body therapies get their due with an intriguing variety of wraps incorporating seaweed or coconut and frangipani or marine algae. They even offer a milk ritual wrap.
Particularly intriguing are the bathing ceremonies in the hydrotherapy suite, complete with candles, mood music, and atmospheric lighting.
 The Detoxifying Hydrotherapy Bath in seawater contains the powerful detoxifying combination of juniper, lemon, sea fennel, and sea buckthorn essential oils. The Soothing Hydrotherapy Bath uses high-powered water jets to ease muscular fatigue and jump start circulation, while the healing waters, enriched with various plant extracts, nourishes the skin. Each ceremony lasts 20 minutes and costs £33.
Like most savvy contemporary spas, Bovey offers additional special treatments for men and, not surprising, here they are also facials. The Skin IQ Facial (75 minutes, £100), billed as the ultimate overhaul for tired, stressed male skin, is designed to calm irritation and protect against the harsh, aging effects of shaving and environmental damage. Claimed to increase moisture levels by up to 30% and elasticity by 28% after one treatment, it comes with the documentation men respect.
The Urban Cleanse Facial (75 minutes, £88) deep cleans and detoxes the skin, elminating blocked pores and accelerating skin repair. Fast-acting ingredients reduce skin sensitivity and protect against the damaging effects of daily pollutants.
No care or nurturing of the body is too small to be ignored at Bovey. They offer, not just manicures and pedicures, but waxing and tanning, lash and brow tinting, even a short "File and Polish." In fact, en route to a gala dinner in the Palm Court, you can pop in for a 20-minute Express Makeup.
 Bovey Castle's sixty-five rooms and suites are designed for stylish comfort; many have fireplaces. From April through October rooms start at £295 and choice valley view accommodations, from £395; all include traditional castle breakfast and VAT, use of the spa, and daily evening wine tastings.
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