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Issue link: https://dayspamagazine.epubxp.com/i/464155
32 DAYSPA | MARCH 2015 SPA HOPPING Healing on the Hudson Upstate New York is the unlikely setting for a Thai-style destination spa. By Alison Singh Gee Ah, the Hudson Valley, that achingly beau- tiful stretch of countryside in New York State that's famous for so many things: the backdrop for major battles of the American Revolutionary War, the place where 18th-century novelist Washington Irving wrote his creepy Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and the setting of rambling estates and summer homes, such as the one-time retreat of the Rockefellers. And, of course, it's known for the Hudson River which, since Europe- ans fi rst sailed into the region in the 1600s, has lured artists from all over the world to capture it on canvas. So you may be surprised to learn that in the heart of this Yankee gentility—the land of maple syrup, sycamore trees and Dutch farmhouses—you can fi nd a Thai-style destination spa, in the riverside village of Tarrytown. And, no, we're not talking a hole-in-the- wall that offers mind-blowing massages and lemon- grass tea. Instead, the THANN Sanctuary Spa is a world-class facility set in an architecturally signifi cant, custom-designed space that draws on the reputation and wisdom of the chain of THANN spas in Thailand. The juxtaposition of Asian graciousness and a brand of affl uent northeastern sensibility becomes even more surreal when you realize that the THANN is set on the grounds of the Castle Hotel, a 19th-century for- mer family estate that was built to look like a Scottish castle—complete with 45 rooms for family members and guests of its original owner, General Howard Car- roll—and verdant and blooming grounds that stretch out to the Hudson. Today, the Castle is a historic land- mark with a gourmet, farm-to-table restaurant, Equus, on the property, and a major draw to Manhattanites yearning for an upscale escape. Design-wise, the THANN building is about the fur- thest you can get from an early-American castle. The low-slung, modern spa, which was built in 2013 at a PHOTOS COURTESY THANN SANCTUARY SPA Just 25 miles north of Manhattan, The Castle Hotel feels like a world away.