Pictured: Lucy Goodwin 

A luxury day spa which opened in the grounds of an East Midlands country house is urgently recruiting more therapists so they can keep up with demand.

Lucy and Martin Goodwin opened the Owl House Spa in the grounds of Langley Priory, near Diseworth, in north-west Leicestershire in July.

Despite the presence of other operators in the region the Owl House has been booked up almost every day - proving without doubt that there is room in the marketplace for a high-end spa.

The couple, who also own a beauty salon in Nottingham, spent £70,000 opening the luxury boutique spa which created 15 jobs.

To keep up with demand - and the spa's strict policy of one therapist to each customer - the business is looking to recruit two more beauty therapists and two part-time assistant therapists to work at weekends.

Lucy said: "We anticipated being really busy at first, particularly since we knew many of our regular customers from the Beauty Temple in Nottingham would want to come and see the spa.

"But there has yet to be any kind of dip in customer numbers and even though people are busy getting ready for Christmas, they obviously still want to treat themselves to a little pampering.

"Through word of mouth and recommendations the phone has barely stopped ringing. It's been far better than we expected and in order to keep fitting clients in, we will have to take on more staff."

The spa has eight treatment rooms, sunken foot baths, an outdoor hot tub and a herbal infusion steam chamber complete with heated seats and a galaxy of LED lights in the ceiling.

It uses beauty products from leading names including Elemis, Aromatherapy Associates and Bare Escentuals, while herbs grown on site are used in some of the exfoliating treatments.

The Owl House was the first spa in the region to offer a rose hydrating cocoon - a treatment consisting of an exfoliating scrub followed by a massage and a nourishing wrap of rose oil, rich gels and cream while lying on a couch sprinkled with rose petals.

And they are currently offering a winter treatment called the Three Kings Ritual which uses frankincense and ginger to relax and warm the body.

Lucy added: "From the outset we felt that there was demand for a day spa which offers a more personal service - there are other spas in the region which have a more conveyor belt style, but that is not the way we operate at all.

"We felt sure that attention to detail and treating each customer as an individual was vital to make the spa stand out from the rest.  The fact that we already need to recruit proves we were right.

"We have sold a huge number of gift vouchers through our online spa shop too, which means January and February are likely to be busy months too."