Terra Nova Nordic Spa & Cafe — Local services in East Zorra-Tavistock

We enjoyed a relaxing three hour stay doing the Nordic Spa experience, on a cold March day of only 4 degrees Celsius outside!

The place is nice! Very down to earth staff, warm and friendly, real people. Non judgmental, open and inclusive. It feels familiar, like going somewhere you’ve been before. It’s not a big place, so you won’t feel lost or overwhelmed in any way. The design and finishes are clean, and home like. Not too fancy, but well taken care of. There is an open space for lockers, then two separate change rooms for men and women to change away from the unisex locker room. The change room has two shower stalls, one toilet, and an open space for changing. (No private change stalls, if you are a private person you’d need to change in the bathroom/toilet stall) Two sinks, two hair dryers, and two well lit mirrors are in the women’s change room too. It wasn’t overly busy when we went so it worked fine to have that amount of space.

Outside, there are plenty of options for warm up sessions, a medium sized hot tub, two dry saunas and a eucalyptus steam room. There are two options for cold- one cold plunge pool that can seat 1-2 people and one cold shower inside the steam room building. (The cold pool is awesome!)

There is a “bio-dome” for resting, which was a nice big open space with wooden slat floors and white fabric walls, with plenty of natural light. There’s a few heat lamps hanging and lots of (plastic) greenery to brighten the space. A teepee with a real wood burning fire place inside is another rest area- honestly was a bit Smokey for myself in there, it stung my eyes, and we smelled pretty smoky after being in there. There’s a third rest area around an outdoor fire pit. Staff added sufficient wood and kept the fires roaring the entire time, lots of warmth. One note: there was salt put down along the pathways and outside of doorways and entrances, as well as along side rubber mats, and non slip mats, stepping stones, and bricks to walk on. (Obviously keep your sandals on between buildings)But it was a bit strange knowing where to put sandals at sauna entrances, if we were supposed to walk in with them on or not- and ended up walking barefoot on salt, outside the saunas- getting salt stuck to our feet, which carried into the saunas- and there was salt on the seats, obviously carried by other peoples feet too. Salt on bare feet felt gross! And made a mess.

All of the warm/cool stations are pretty close together in a small outdoor fenced area, enough space in between, but not a hike to get anywhere. It felt very quaint, welcoming and comfortable. We were able to relax, and talk at a reasonable volume- the other guests were all very friendly and all said hello. It was not silent like other spa experiences.

We sat and enjoyed some tea after our sessions, in a small cafe area, while still wearing our swim suits and robes. The cafe area in my opinion could be warmer, or have an indoor fireplace to make it feel warmer. The cement floor I’m sure is necessary for cleaning after wet feet might pass through but I feel it could be a bit cozier/warmer/more colourful in that area! I did get chilly while having my tea. (Keeping my winter hat on, and putting on Wool socks I brought along did help)

Overall, a wonderful day trip for two busy and tired Moms to escape and relax. I’d say it’s perfect if you don’t want to travel far, and are looking for a down to earth, cozy and welcoming space that feels like it’s run by real life people, not a fancy uptight place in any way. It was worth the price for a treat for ourselves. But also a bit too expensive for us to be able to go on a “regular” basis.

Terra Nova- the local “casual” Nordic spa experience that makes you feel comfortable, welcome,...

Safety concerns I’m sorry to have to write this but I feel it’s necessary. My husband and I were there on Sunday and I had an unfortunate accident that could have been entirely prevented if some basic common sense was taken into consideration on the part of the business to not use cheap items in high traffic areas. I was coming down the stairs to the change area from the outside spa area, this area gets very wet from everyone’s footwear bringing in the slush and snow from the outside. The stairs were outfitted with some cheap stick-on fabric treads, I assume to prevent slipping, however these treads are not meant to get wet as the adhesive does not work properly when wet. Two of the treads were already missing on the first two steps, so someone obviously knew this was a problem already. I went very carefully down these stairs as I could tell they were slippery looking. As I stepped onto the third step the tread fully detached and slipped away from the stair, and I started to fall down the rest of the stairs (about 4 more steps). Luckily, I was hanging on to the railing very tightly and I managed to keep from fully tumbling all the way down, I basically slid down three steps, I twisted my knee as it wasn’t coming along for the ride. My husband who was a bit ahead of me heard me fall down and was able to collect me thankfully. Another patron in the change area asked if someone just fell and I said yes, I just did. She reported it to the staff member up stairs and then came back down to tell me they wanted me to fill out an incident report before I left. I went up the stairs to the main reception and the girl took my description of what happened and my contact information, she was very nice but said I could go now if I wanted. I proceeded to tell her last time I was at the spa in December I reported I saw someone slip and fall in the cold plunge, there are foam like pool noodles on the hand rails into the larger cold plunge pool and it isn’t secured and a poor guy was trying to get into the pool and the foam noodle slipped down the railing and he took a header down the stairs and into the pool, I think he was embarrassed and just tried to brush it off. I reported this to reception at this time, but no information was taken, and on my visit yesterday I saw no measures were taken to remedy this, this foam grip still was slipping down when people were getting into the plunge pool. So, this is two times that I have been here and there have seen slip and fall accidents (including my own). Unfortunately, no one from management called me today to follow up or ask how I was (which my knee is messed up now) or for any remediation. I have taken my mom here and my husband and was going to come back with girl friends but I am not impressed with this situation so I am seriously doubtful I will spend my money to subject anyone else to this. I’ve heard it already that they are under renovation and making improvements, but that doesn’t mean you don’t consider the safety of your current guests as the number one priority, which it clearly isn’t. I could go on about other issues around supporting people getting in and out of slippery areas, but my point has been made, anyone that is there for a few hours in winter can tell where there are not enough railings and where things are very dicey with all the water freezing. Please do better, people are spending a lot of money for a safe and relaxing environment, and this...

I recently visited Terra Nova with two friends, eagerly anticipating our treatments and a relaxing day in the thermal spa. We booked our appointments months in advance as one of my friends is from a significant distance away and we wanted to ensure we had it properly scheduled. We originally attempted to book two Japanese Head spas and one for an Ayurvedic scalp and spine massage. They told us that there could only be one Japanese Head spa so I opted for the Ayurvedic scalp and spine massage as well.

As I was leaving for my appointment (I live 20 minutes away), I get a call from the manager saying that someone called in sick and is unable to do my treatment but she can arrange a pedicure instead. I didn’t really want a pedicure and was really looking forward to a relaxing massage but my friends had treatments and my options were to get a pedicure instead or just sit around waiting for them to finish their treatments. So I opted for the pedicure- while I understand that last-minute changes can happen, the communication from the staff left much to be desired. The representative was somewhat curt, saying “well it’s out of my hands," which felt dismissive as I believe I was right to feel disappointed in not even having a massage as an option. And I agree to an extent, it’s not her fault that someone got sick (nor is it the fault of the person who called in) but there should be something put into place for instances like this.

Upon arrival, the receptionist was kind but unaware of my situation, and there were no notes on my appointment. After my pedicure, which was done by a lovely technician who also had no context to the situation, we enjoyed the thermal spa but faced some more hiccups throughout the day.

When it came time to pay, the manager's response to our concerns was unsatisfactory. Instead of addressing the issue with understanding, we were the ones who had to bring it up to which she tersely pointed out that I had been offered an alternative treatment and asked, “well what do you want?” This interaction made me feel more like a nuisance than a valued guest, which was disappointing given the premium price point for the services. I was offered a percentage off of my pedicure, which was appreciated but grossly missed the point.

Despite these frustrations, I did enjoy the thermal spa experience and believe the facility has great potential. However, there needs to be better communication and guest engagement, particularly when handling changes or issues. A simple apology for the mix-up would have made a significant difference. Despite the mix-ups and lacklustre response, I had considered returning for the head massage and the thermal spa but after the interaction at the end, I’m hesitant.

I don’t often leave reviews and certainly not negative ones but I feel this spa could go a long way if they improved in these areas (particularly regarding etiquette) as I do see a lot of promise in...