Two Spas Now Open at Hampton Island Preserve ~ Georgian coastal retreat’s nature-inspired, indigenous, open-air spas

HAMPTON ISLAND, GA, April 4, 2006 – Two of the four innovative spas at Hampton Island Preserve, a luxurious yet ecologically sensitive 4,000 acre private club located on the coast of Georgia, are now open at the members-only enclave.
Recently opened, the Farm House Spa is set amid the herb and vegetable garden of the island’s six-acre organic farm. Here, spa technicians, using mortal and pestle, blend locally grown aromatic herbs and botanicals, which are hand-picked and custom-blended for the spa. Indigenous mud from the surrounding land will be incorporated into the treatments as well. Herein, guests have the luxury of handpicking ingredients from the spa garden for a custom-made spa treatment.
The second completed spa, The Treehouse Spa, is an open-air facility, built among ancient live oak trees in the quiet seclusion of coastal marshes. An actual tree house, this screened-in spa allows maximum interaction with the sights and sounds of nature, and features a custom-made copper and wood Japanese tub built for two, and an outdoor shower. Spa services include couples treatments, massage, body treatments, and facials using products custom-formulated for the spa. A nearby boardwalk lets guests enjoy walks through the forest and marshlands, or outdoor dining experiences overlooking the marsh and nearby Payne Creek.

Both spas offer massage services including couples massage, deep tissue/sports massage; hot stone massage, relaxation massage and reflexology. At the Farm House Spa, seasonally changing body treatment experiences include a warm milk, rice and sugar scrub; a lavender, rosemary and mint body scrub; a chamomile, milk and honey masque; a lemon verbena, sage and thyme body polish; a sugar, pecan scrub; a relaxing rose petal, rosehip and lavender body masque; and a moisturizing and detoxifying mud body masque. Bath therapies at The Treehouse Spa include a Yuzu water soak; a grape seed anti-oxidant soak; a rose petal and lavender soak; a mineral mud bath and an almond mud bath.

Two other spas are expected to be complete by 2008: The Rice House Spa, which will be a respite for golfers, overlooking the 18th hole of Ricefields, a Davis Love III-designed golf course and is currently being constructed. Yoga, Pilates classes, and a private training room are being planned for this spa location; and The Spa Camp at the Grist Mill, which will be designed for outdoor lovers, with outdoor yoga and Pilates classes.

Intent on making the outdoors part of the spa milieu, and inspired by the island’s pristine landscape of maritime forest, marsh and pasture, lakes and winding limestone roadway, spa consultant Lydia Abernathy Mondavi, founder of The Abernathy Group (TAG), began developing the spa concepts in 2005. Known for her decade-plus of work with upscale resorts around the country, Mondavi has managed development, design, sales, marketing, operations, training, revenue development, and product and service selection for several spas including Old Edwards Inn and Spa in North Carolina, the Retreat Spa in Palm Springs, California, and Villa Lucia Vorno, in Italy.

TAG is leading the design of all four spa locations, and designed The Farm House Spa and The Treehouse Spa with Bill Foley, president of the award-winning, Atlanta-based Foley Design Associates, known for their resorts, country clubs and community design. Foley’s regarded work includes Legends Club of Tennessee as well as other projects within Hampton Island Preserve, including Settler’s Rest a four-suite, 8,000 square-foot guest house, and Hampton House, a 17,500-square-foot, eight-bedroom guest house. TAG will design The Spa Camp at the Grist Mill and The Rice House Spa with award-wining, Atlanta-based architectural firm Summerour & Associates, known for their cherished high-end residential creations, vacation homes, and quality commercial projects from St. Simons Island, Georgia to Florence, Italy.
The Spas at Hampton Island are just one of the top-notch amenities being offered to members of the newly launched private club located on one of the last remaining undeveloped private islands on the Georgian coast. Only 393 memberships are being made available to join the island, including 163 with home sites; the remaining 230 allow use of the private reserve without a home site. Properties range from 100-acre horse farms, to two-acre sites facing across 2,000 feet of lakefront, or modest acre-plus sites overlooking the marsh. “The Big House,” a 10,000-square-foot plantation-style home built on the property along with a 10,000-square-foot guest house called the “Oyster House” was purchased by Hampton Island Preserve member, actor Ben Affleck.

Hampton Island Preserve is an exclusive club set on an approximately 4,000-acre island off the coast of Georgia, one of the few remaining undeveloped islands along the South Atlantic Coast. A purposely underdeveloped sanctuary, Hampton Island Preserve maintains the stunning, natural enclave while offering refined services and amenities unlike any other existing coastal community, including a Davis Love III golf course, an organic garden, an equestrian center, two seaplanes, a Rob Mondavi wine cellar, four spa locations, 17 guest houses and 163 cherished home sites for members who wish to reside there. For more information, contact (912) 880-8800 or log on to Web Site www.hamptonisland.com.