I have fond memories of summer vacations with my family in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. So at the invitation to visit Deerfield Spa for a weekend, I pointed my car south, made the easy three-hour drive from home in Central New York to East Stroudsburg, PA, and hoped to rekindle some of those childhood memories.

Deerfield Spa is a nurturing, casual and intimate destination spa accommodating 33 guests, set on 11 acres in the Pocono Mountains of my youth. Owned by Joan Wolff since 1999, and her mother before that since the early 80’s, Deerfield hasn’t changed too much throughout the years. And that’s a good thing – Deerfield remains dedicated to what truly makes their guests happy and healthy. Known for fun, warmth and well-being, they had quite a reputation to live up to.

It’s not uncommon for your fellow guests to have visited many, many times. In fact, Joan tells me that 60% of the guests are repeat customers – some pretty impressive stats. They pride themselves on offering a standard program that visitors have come to expect, with plenty of elements of guest customization. The staff is warm and friendly; it’s as if close friends invited you to their country house for the weekend. When I asked Joan about life as an innkeeper and spa owner, “it’s like I have people visiting my home”. Indeed it was.

I’ve traveled by myself plenty of times before, but the definition of “by myself” was rather loose. Usually it meant I’d be joining colleagues at a conference or meeting up with friends or family who lived in the city I was visiting. This time, I was really traveling alone. My first time as a truly solo guest, I oscillated between being elated at having so much time alone and the fear of being lonely. But the fear quickly evaporated once I joined the other guests at dinner my first evening and experienced the welcoming atmosphere and community that keeps guests coming back time after time. After that, I was only alone when I wanted to be.

This isn’t a bellman and concierge kind of place. You’ll schlep your luggage through the gravel parking lot and maybe up a flight or two of stairs if your guestroom is in the main building. But the guests don’t seem to mind. In fact, they’re drawn to the “help yourself” attitude combined with just the right amount of pampering and service. The staff at Deerfield will make you feel more like extended family than a guest, often making a point to learn your name even before you arrive. You’ll be surprised and impressed when your dining room server addresses you by name, quite possibly before she even meets you.

My home for the weekend was room 18 in the annex, a small building that houses 6 of Deerfield’s largest guest rooms, located just a few steps away from the main house, two gyms, outdoor heated pool and gazebo-enclosed hot tub. My oversized room was simple and comfortable, not showy, and contained two double beds, a flat screen TV with cable, white wicker furniture, painted wood rocking chairs and a private bath. Rooms in the annex have a small outdoor seating area, some of them overlooking the pool. Waffle weave bathrobes, extra pillows and blankets waited in the closet to make my stay quite comfortable.

You’ll know it’s mealtime when you hear the dinner bell ring, and you’ll follow a steady stream of guests as they make their way to the intimate setting of the knotty pine paneled 9-table dining room with fresh flowers at every table. “No one ever misses a meal at Deerfield”, joked Joan. And believe me, you wouldn’t want to. If you have preconceived notions about what spa cuisine is like, you can check those notions at the door. Deerfield emphasizes low fat, low sodium cuisine that is fresh and flavorful. Colors popped on my plate and flavors burst in my mouth at every meal. I thought I’d feel hungry and deprived, but that couldn’t have been farther from reality. One of my personal goals for the weekend was to re-acclimate myself to calorie counting and portion control, a practice that is easy to set aside in a busy and sometimes indulgent lifestyle.

Each evening at dinner, you’ll select your meals for the next day, ordering off the regular menu or from the daily menu that offers a creative, special dish at each meal. If you see a special you like, order it; you might not find it on the rotating menu again during your visit and they’re very popular. The kitchen at Deerfield can accommodate any type of dietary preference. Meals are served without butter and salt, although the dining staff will bring you sea salt if you ask for it.

On the regular dinner menu, you’ll find satisfying dishes like baked chicken, baked fish, chef salad and pasta primavera. You can add a baked potato or sweet potato to your entrée for more substance. French chicken – a tender chicken breast, thinly sliced almonds and mozzarella cheese in a mushroom glaze was satisfying and filling, and hard to believe it was under 500 calories including a salad of spring mixed greens, mandarin orange slices, and walnuts, and a dessert of raspberry cheesecake. Brightly colored steamed carrots and broccoli rounded out the offering. Plates were garnished with citrus wedges and edible flowers.

At lunch, the turkey burger with fat free pesto mayo on a whole-wheat pita was flavorful and satisfying. The Deerfield border wrap of mild black beans on a sprouted wheat tortilla, zucchini, lettuce, tomato, peppers and fat free sour cream is a favorite vegetarian option.

A dinner special of honey mustard salmon was a perfectly portioned salmon filet with a honey mustard glaze, served with roasted red potatoes and asparagus. Just when I thought my craving for chocolate couldn’t get any worse, right-sized portions of chocolate covered strawberries appeared like magic after dinner. Guests can help themselves to Bigelow teas in every color and flavor of the rainbow, 24-hours a day. There might even be a basket of fresh fruit to enjoy in between meals.

After dinner on my first evening, I took my cup of herbal tea out to the front porch overlooking the lawn. Trees and flowers were in full bloom and I felt peaceful and calm, surrounded by nature. There was no music playing, no entertainment to speak of, just the relaxing and gentle sounds of the outdoors coming from every direction – birds chirping in the trees and unseen creatures stirring in the bushes, chipmunks crossing the stone patio. Guests lingered in the dining room, laughing and having a great time and conversations; before long, gathering in the lounge for the evening program.

As a Destination Spa, Deerfield operates seasonally from April through October. The day spa is open year-round. In the off-season, Deerfield hosts a number of specialty weekends. Throughout the regular operating season, there are a number of “Expert in Residence” weekends. As luck would have it, I hit upon one of those weekends: Less Fear, More Fun with motivational speaker Donnalyn Giegerich. While the regular Deerfield program of healthfully prepared cuisine and fitness offerings operated quietly in the background, the “Expert in Residence” program heightened my Deerfield experience exponentially.

Donnalyn is a high energy, incredibly engaging, dynamic inspirational speaker. Endlessly fun to be around, she was warm and welcoming during each of her three workshops that ran in the evenings and then wrapped up on Sunday morning. She speaks from the heart and from experience about how her life was changed, but not interrupted, after being diagnosed in 2007 with leiomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer. Her mission is to raise awareness of this and other “less popular” cancers; and her message is about resilience and beating adversity with passion, fashion, flair and style. Donnalyn’s attitude was infectious and inspiring; I found myself becoming aware that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. But more poignant, I began to rethink how much effort I put into sweating the small stuff. When you spend three days with someone who has experienced devastating adversity and has turned that adversity around to serve others, it gives you a bit of pause about your own life.

Donnalyn immersed herself in the Deerfield culture throughout the weekend; mingling and dining with guests, strength training in the gym long before breakfast, and hiking the Appalachian Trail with Deerfield’s own hiking guide/naturalist despite her “ledge aversion”, as she so calmly refers to her fear of heights and ledges; yet another example of her bravery.

At breakfast, our enthusiastic hiking guide and naturalist, John, burst energetically into the dining room with timely information about the morning hike. Details about the destination of the day, distance of the hike, level of difficulty, terrain, and promised vistas were shared with the breakfast crowd. After an assurance that we’d be back in time for lunch, we hopped in the van and were on our way to the trailhead. We hiked a moderate, 3-mile section of the Appalachian Trail at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. John didn’t miss an opportunity to share his vast knowledge of the local flora and fauna; that is, when he could get a word in edgewise. The hike was a natural opportunity for guests to get to know each other side-by-side on the trail, and we did just that.

When you return from the hike or after a day of exercise, you might want to have a pampering or therapeutic spa treatment. There are 5 treatment rooms including one couples room. Skilled therapists and practitioners offer massages, facials, wraps, scrubs, and Reiki treatments. The massage therapists circulate throughout the dining room during meals answering questions about the treatments that are known for winning guests over, like the very popular healing touch of their legendary Lomi Lomi massage.

Fitness offerings are remarkably varied for a spa this size. You can start your day with Yoga, attend an outdoor morning stretch after breakfast, lace up your hiking boots for the guided hike, take Yo-Wei after lunch, a late afternoon pool class, and end your day with late night yoga and candlelit meditation just before bed. You’ll get the benefits of a fitness regimen at the spa with an educated and credentialed fitness staff, but you’ll learn skills and techniques that you can take with you to keep the fitness going at home. And you’ll have laughs and fun in the process.

Other facilities include a sauna, sports court, and a boutique that is open for a few hours most afternoons. The sun made a brief appearance just in time for my afternoon by the pool, surrounded by tall, fragrant pine trees. You can take a late night swim if you’re so inclined; the facilities at Deerfield are open 24 hours a day. Nothing was off limits to guests – part of the reason that you’ll feel instantly right at home.

Guests feel comfortable here; comfortable enough to come to breakfast in their pajamas, to watch television in the lounge at 3 a.m. when they can’t sleep, or to ask the kitchen to stock farmer cheese for their morning egg white omelet. Hearing that one guest had visited Deerfield more than twenty times over twenty years, I just had to know what keeps guests coming back year after year. Guests return for the comfortable and familiar surroundings, the laughter, the lack of pretense (or as one guest told me, “you don’t have to wear makeup here”). But most notably, they come for the friendship and camaraderie. And with as many as 50% of the guests arriving solo, there is plenty of opportunity to create lasting friendships. Lisa Karasic, who handles the marketing and media relations for Deerfield, explained to me that “you arrive as strangers, you depart as friends”. But Lisa doesn’t speak solely as a representative of the spa – she’s a regular guest too who has experienced the Deerfield magic for herself.

Everyone seems to have a story: It could be the group of eight ladies who’ve been friends for decades, celebrating a milestone birthday. They’ve traveled together many times, but this the first time without their husbands in tow. Or it might be the guest who sits next to you at breakfast who is visiting Deerfield to get some minor health problems under control before they become a more serious health concern. Or the husband and wife who want to jump-start healthier living and a richer marriage. Whatever mix of guests you encounter, you’ll surely feel blessed by meeting them, sharing delicious spa cuisine with them, participating in the celebrated hiking program together and joining in fitness classes from morning till night.

Quite possibly my favorite part of the weekend, although it’s hard to pick favorites, was the “mocktail” hour on Saturday just before dinner. Fruity and festive non-alcoholic cocktails were served along with huge crudités platters of flavorful yet fat free dips and hors d'oeuvres with veggies as the star ingredients. It was a great opportunity to mix and mingle with the other guests in highly social environment, swap stories about the day and make plans for tomorrow. While alcohol is not served at Deerfield Spa, it’s not uncommon for new and old friends to share a bottle of wine in one of the common areas. Wolff says, “As long as it doesn’t bother the other guests.”

While Deerfield doesn’t boast about high thread count sheets or luxury bath products, bragging rights are well deserved for the warm, nurturing and supporting environment. It’s a place the spa community can really appreciate and a place that many return guests can fondly refer to as “coming home”.

 

Source: examiner.com Calgary
http://www.examiner.com/x-12938-Spa-Examiner~y2010m6d9-Spa-Review--Deerfield-Spa-East-Stroudsburg-PA

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with a two-night stay including meals, activities, fitness classes and more for the purpose of writing this article. While this did not influence the article, Examiner.com believes in full disclosure