IT was a night of success for Newton Abbot based business, Hydropool Devon, at the BISHTA hot tub awards in Coventry last week.

The family-run business took home 12 of the 37 awards available across 9 categories, making them the most successful retailer at this year’s ceremony.

The most prestigious of them all were the Gold Award for Showroom of the Year for their hot tub and swim spa showroom in Kingskerswell, Newton Abbot, and a Gold Award for Hot Tub Happiness.  

The team from Hydropool Devon travelled to the awards from Plymouth.

 The BISHTA Pool and Hot Tub Awards is an annual awards ceremony run by the British and Irish Spa and Hot Tub Association.

Since 2001, BISHTA have ensured that companies have engaged in ethical practices in the display, sale, and maintenance of hot tubs.

This includes ensuring members are trained water hygiene management and understandthe importance of maintaining the highest possible standards to serve customers and the community.

The yearly event celebrates the best pool and hot tub projects in Britain for that year, with a range of categories that reward entrants for attractive installations and the positive impacts that they have had on lives.

The hot tub award categories, including Hydropool Devon awards were:

● Showroom of the Year - GOLD Award

● Hot Tub Happiness - GOLD Award & Silver Award

● Hot Tubs Change Lives - Silver Award & Bronze Award

● Hot Tub Under £7000 - 2X Bronze Awards

● Hot Tub £7000 - £14000 - GOLD Award & Silver Award

● Hot Tub Over £14,000

● Swim/Exercise Spa Project of the Year - Silver Award

● Hot Tub in a Holiday Setting - Silver Award & Bronze Award

The Hydropool Devon showroom in Kingskerswell picked up the Gold Award for Showroom of the Year, beating other well-established retailers to the prize.

The Devon showroom spans approx 4000 square feet, and has 16 hot tubs and 5 swim spas on display, including two filled wet test model to demonstrate hot tubs and swim spas which potential customers can try before going forward with their purchase.

There is also space for two Tylohelo residential infrared saunas, with a covered outdoor space that displays hot tubs commonly used in holiday settings.

BISHTA recognise that many hot tub and swim spa projects look great, but it’s the happiness that they bring to people’s lives that make the entries worthy for the top prizes.

Calling on the clients that the team at Hydropool Devon declared as the happiest of them all, Hydropool Devon arranged to visit them at their property for a photoshoot that demonstrated their authentic joy.

As well as collecting the Gold Award for this category, the images from this entry havebeen used as the feature images in BISHTA’s press release.

For the Hot Tubs Change Lives category, the team at Hydropool Devon went to visit clients who had purchased their spa for therapeutic treatment for long-term or chronic disease/illness to see how they were using their hot tub/swim spa to relieve their symptoms.

While Hydropool Devon were briefly made aware of some of the conditions these clients were living with at the point of sale, it was important for them to meet the clients to discuss how the home treatments were helping them manage symptoms.

Courtenay, the Marketing Manager at Hydropool Devon summed up the process of submitting entries into this category.

'Sometimes you don't realise when you are selling someone a hot tub that is about to have a profound impact on their lives. When we followed up with certain people that mentionedillnesses or injuries prior to purchasing their spa, we were thrilled to learn about how they are using home hydrotherapy treatments to manage their symptoms.

'For me to personally go out and meet these people to discuss how their hot tubhas genuinely changed their lives was extremely moving. Then to get two awardsin collaboration with these inspiring people was humbling for us all.'

The Silver Award was for a hot tub project in Paignton which was installed as part of a garden annexe for a husband and wife, Mark and Sharon.

After moving to the area from Cambridgeshire, they decided to build a garden annexe which contained a Self-Cleaning Hydropool hot tub. Sharon suffers from fibromyalgia, which causes chronic pain and discomfort all over her body, so getting a hydrotherapy hot tub at home successfully helps her manage her symptoms.

They say that this was a key factor in their decision to invest a little bit more to get a hot tub capable of providing the treatment Sharon needs.

It especially helps her relax and relieve discomfort before settling down for the evening, reducing symptoms of pain-induced insomnia.

With Mark now working from home, he had previously struggled to separate his busy work life from his home, so the garden annexe and hot tub installed at the top of their garden has become a place where he can escape from the stresses of work on his lunch break or when he finishes. Although the hot tub is sunken into decking outside of the annexe, it is sheltered so thatthe weather does not become a reason not to use it.

The Bronze Award in this category was for a swim spa project in the garden of an ex police officer called Simon, who has been donating blood for many years. 

His story is more complex as it began with him donating bone marrow to a cancer patient who is still alive and well today.

However, Simon’s selfless donation could have been the root cause of his now chronic condition.

In the days after his most recent donation, he was doing some work to his conservatory and got injured in an unfortunate accident when some of the roof caved in on him, causing injuries to his back and neck which each required surgery.

After surgeries and many sessions of physiotherapy, Simon was never truly recovering.

Eventually, the doctors concluded that he now has psoriatic arthritis, an autoimmune disease that unfortunately cannot be cured.

Although the disease got put into remission, the treatment stopped working, so Simon hadto look for alternative treatments to manage his pain.

While it cannot be stated as fact, the doctors believe that his disease was caused by his environmental conditions - the bone marrow donation gave more than 3 times the units than hoped for, and so soon after he suffered physical and mental trauma which put his body into long-term stress while he was not recovering and wondering what was happening to him.

He had six hydrotherapy sessions through the NHS which he found to be highly beneficial, so when he received a payout for his condition he decided that he would invest it into his own hydrotherapy spa.

While he disclosed that he has “never had loads of money”, he wanted to make sure he gotthe best spa to treat him.

Simon admitted that over the last few years since his diagnosis, he had gained weight.

Once he learned his condition was relatively stable, he started his mission to get active again through low-impact exercise.He began running in a club, but running was proving to be too hard on his joints.

As he enjoys swimming, he decided that he would invest in a swim spa so he could do minimal-impact exercise at a greater exertion rate than just walking.

Combining swimming with the hydrotherapy treatments he can get from his swim spa, he has found an all-in-one treatment where he can exercise at a high intensity without putting pressure on his joints and treat his body to the many benefits of a premium hot tub massage.

The team at Hydropool Devon did us Devonians proud, picking up 12 of the 37 awards available, with three of those being Gold.

Beating off top competition from around the country, they have shown that small family-runbusinesses can be recognised for the love they put into giving back to the community with stunning hot tub and swim spa projects.