Pelegrims Review: British Vinotherapy Treatments in England's Wine Region.
“A lovely warm bed…” I muse.
“It makes such a difference,” Jojo, my vinotherapist for the day, murmurs as I clamber onto a restful, heated cocoon, about to experience Pelegrims' ‘Winemakers Rest’ at their Canterbury Flagship store. She walks me through the agenda for the next 90 minutes, asks about my fragrance preferences, and builds my oil blend for the session.
For the body, Winemakers Rest adds a personalised therapeutic massage incorporating breathwork and fragrance before their house treatment, the British Vinotherapy Facial—using their organic, low-intervention products, with ingredients sourced from their partner, Westwell Vineyard, and hand-crafted just 20 miles from the source—creating a divine sense of restfulness by taking cues from tension to untangle each client.
Pelegrims Rituals: ‘Winemakers Rest’
Celebrating their upcoming first birthday on September 25th, their dedicated space offers a stylish showcase of the brand, from skincare to bath and body care, fragrances, and home scents. Inside the Grade II listed historical building, their iconic green-hued bottles and natural paper boxes sit atop slick natural wood counters, set against whitewashed walls and a timber-framed ceiling.
Dating back to the 18th century, the property was originally built as a pilgrim's hostel, a detail which feels so harmoniously fitting for the brand, as tucked away upstairs is their treatment room, where I now lie, borderline float, in a custom cloud of essential oils, as soft green light slowly dances across the ceiling from a nearby lamp, and ambient music further imbues the atmosphere.
Pelegrims Clarifying Exfoliant Powder
“Did you have free rein when you were developing the Rituals?” I ask Jojo.
“Lottie and I truly had the opportunity to get creative, taking inspiration from our time at Haeckels (now Dulcie). We absolutely loved designing them. I did oxygen therapy during my time with Kate Summerville; I now have my machine here, so we incorporate that technology into our facials. Paired with Pelegrim’s hyaluronic acid serum, it’s beautiful.”
I am invited to lie on my front, as we start with a gentle cleanse and body exfoliation with the Clarifying Exfoliant Powder. Then Jojo moves on to kneading my back, neck, arms, and shoulders, gradually working on areas of tension with their Lavender and Vetiver Body Oil. Whilst she notices a lack of symmetry in my shoulders and moves her attention back to them, I ask what they felt was most important when building the treatment menu.
“Lottie and I've both been doing this for such a long time, we’ve seen trends come and go, and we just thought, ‘What would we want out of a treatment?’ As much as I love vigorous lifting and sculpting, everything in life is fast-paced and rushed… We thought, let's bring it back to a soothing, calming, nurturing moment; effective, but in a gentler approach. It suits Pelegrims so much better.”
Jojo shares how, from that, they hand-selected advanced techniques and worked them into each ritual, “still focussing on the non-invasive, but always to promote efficacy”. Depending on what might best suit the client, this might be LED, microcurrent, or oxygen infusion.
I am invited to turn onto my back, and Jojo prepares a custom blend of essential oils to reflect her findings from the massage. Once resettled, she works through a moment of breathwork, punctuating the move into the British Vinotherapy Facial.
As we embark, Jojo uses a custom mix of the Facial Balm with the Vitamin Boost Facial Cleanser to fit my skin type, as she explains, “We can adapt each stage to the client, which always adds extra value to our rituals”. With the perfectly light, intentional kind of motion—across my face, neck and décolletage—that we so rarely devote time to at home, each movement is not simply to apply the product, but to soothe each muscle and slow racing thoughts.
Pelegrims Mineral Mud Mask
“The cleanser alone is quite light and rapidly absorbs into the skin, which is great for use at home, but the two together create a lovely salve. With the extra glide, you can really work it into the skin to achieve extra hydration, as well as clarifying.”
After a soft towel bathes my skin in warm steam and I prep with a spritz of Hydration Boost Toning Mist, she applies a slick of Mineral Mud Mask. “It might feel a little bit tingly”, she notes, “the clay is quite active, with alpha hydroxy acids from fruit extract; and the Dead Sea mineral mud tightens as it dries.”
Alongside the more active resurfacing and clarifying ingredients, the addition of nettle root powder is a powerful anti-inflammatory, as once more fragrance is used to heighten the experience. Scented with fennel, jasmine, coriander and pine, it’s another distracting moment of calm. Jojo places a weighted Jade mask over my eyes and loops back to continue the shoulder and arm massage before it’s time to move on from the mask.
With a little help from the HLA Micellar Water, the mask makes way for a gloriously unhurried and meticulous rejuvenating facial massage with acupressure, then moving on to using chilled jade gua sha tools, using a combination of the Facial Balm with Hyaluronic Plump Facial Oil, again, adjusting the ritual to better suit my dehydrated skin.
Across the many minutes she works on micro-knots and accesses areas of further tension under layers of tautness I didn’t even know were there, as if unpicking a vintage jumper to refashion the yarn, we put the world to rights about beauty, brands, products, routines.
The curse of the beauty journalist: I can never resist chatting my way through a treatment.
“There are so many things we want to do,” shares Jojo when asked about the brand, the products and the showroom. “But what is so lovely, the people that have come and had treatments who are already familiar with the brand, they've all rebooked.”
After applying the Rewards of Patience Facial Serum Concentrate, Jojo explains that she uses a jet of pressurised oxygen to push the product into the skin: “It infuses the serum, amplifying the effects of the antioxidants and the anti-inflammatory ingredients, like the polyphenols.”
During a final swipe of facial balm, and the Firming Lip Balm for good measure, I ask, of all the products in the lineup, and after a career including a celebrated roster of luxury brands, what is her hero Pelegrims product?
“I really love the facial oil; you’ve got its plumping effect, because of the hyaluronic acid, you've got the antioxidants, the polyphenols… It’s a really potent, powerful, and easy-to-use product for all skin types. And the other thing I love about all the products is that they don't smell artificial; each scent is really fresh.”
Already planning a return trip, I know it will be their Immersion Ritual. As their most luxurious moment, it encapsulates each element across the rituals. It adds a nourishing body wrap and exfoliation across what I know will be 120 gluttonous minutes for those ravenous for time devoted to them.
As I tear myself away, a soothing cup of Grape Leaf Detox Tea is softly pressed into my hands to ease the transition back to the showroom, while I peruse the home wares and stock up on products. The Winter Vineyard candle catches my nose, with notes of dark wine woods, fresh rain, earth, and grass, blended with wine, basil, and English herbs; as do the Tomato, Fig, and Black Pepper incense cones.
All in all, Pelegrims offers a lesson in how to sculpt natural ingredients into powerful tinctures, gathering the scents that define them and moulding something raw into mindful moments, reminding us that rituals come from repetition, and create deeper meaning.
Pelegrims, Treatment Rooms
25 St Margaret’s Street, Canterbury, CT1 2TH
Opening Hours: Wednesday-Thursday 11-5 | Friday- Saturday 11-6 | Sunday 11-4
Rituals Menu
British Vinotherapy Facial (60 or 90 minutes)
Regenerative Ritual (90 minutes)
Winemaker's Rest (90 minutes)
Pelegrims Immersion (120 minutes)
Pelegrims Midweek Reviver (45 min)
To book or for more information, contact rituals@pelegrims.com or book via Vagaro.
