Not for nothing has Nantucket become the summer playground for billionaires – the current estimate is around 75 of them have holiday homes on the island. At 30 miles out from the Massachusetts coast, it’s a gem of New England coastal style, all grey-shingled period houses, gorgeous beaches and with whales, seals and dolphins making regular appearances in the water.
You don’t have to have your own place, though (and, believe me, you’d have to be a billionaire to afford one). You can stay instead at the White Elephant, right on the water, a ten-minute walk into town and a hotel with creature comforts that range from shuttles to take you to the best beaches and a complimentary BMW for a drive around the island – it’s limited to four hours but there again Nantucket is just 15 x 7 miles, so you can’t really go too far.
The White Elephant is a comparative newcomer as buildings on the island go, built in the 1920s rather than the 18th century like most of the houses in town. It is, though, as picturesque as you can wish, covered in the island’s signature pale grey shingles, with white painted window frames. The restaurant garden runs down to the water and the food is fabulous, even the breakfast plate a carefully composed picture. My room has a generous balcony looking out over the harbour and there’s a sitting room with a fire for chilly evenings. This is a particularly cosy treat if you go in the spring or autumn as Nantucket is renowned for its long winter that can raise its head as late as June or as early as October.
And, of course, they have a spa. Now, this is not an enormous destination spa where you’ll find a hydrotherapy set up or a massive gym. Here, all the pools are outside and the hotel offers bikes to its guests for outdoor exercise. So, this is very much a spa where the emphasis is all about relaxing and rejuvenating treatments, starting with the Serenity Room that overlooks the hotel lawn that reaches down to the water.
The massage menu is, as you might expect, extensive, ranging from deep tissue massage to hot stones and you can have the massage in your room, too, if you prefer, as well as a CBD add-on for even deeper relaxation. There are also suitably seaside body treatments such as detoxifying salt polish or an algae wrap. There are paraffin treatments for hands and feet, too, in which hot liquid paraffin is brushed on and sets and peeled off to reveal super-soft skin.
The facials, in contrast, are on the high-tech side from LED therapy and microdermabrasion (a gentle resurfacing version of exfoliation) to dermaplaning (think of a gentle shave of the skin’s surface) and DNA-based facials. And there are more relaxing ones like the Platinum HydraFacial with a skin detox, lymphatic drainage, and plenty of boosters and moisturising.
The White Elephant spa uses Amala products that pride themselves on their natural ingredients (no GMOs, silicones, parabens, mineral oils or synthetic fragrances). They focus on a high concentration of biotics, whole plants, cold pressed seed oils and bio-ferments. Simply put, the idea of fermented products for the skin is not dissimilar to the now broad popularity of fermented products for gut health. So, just as we have beneficial bacteria in the gut that enjoy all that kefir and kimchi, our skin has a protective layer known as the microbiome which has a diverse community of bacteria, fungi and viruses and, when properly fed, your skin is balanced and healthy as a result.
My relaxation massage worked a treat – a heated, adjustable bed, blankets (it was almost November) and a comforting sweet-smelling oil. I just wish it had lasted longer. On Nantucket, though, the ferry waits for no man (or woman) even when covered in oil and a change of plan saw me heading out before my allotted time. I’ll just have to go back (and I really wouldn’t complain about that)…
For more information about The White Elephant, including details of amenities and experiences, and other White Elephant resorts in the portfolio, please visit www.whiteelephantnantucket.com.
Photos by Kit Noble
