WHERE have all these years flown? In a blink of an eye my baby girl has her own set of stylish wheels, a beau to wine and dine her and will soon be flying the nest to study miles away from home on the Dorset coast.

So it was with both hands I grabbed the opportunity to spend the day with her, prised away from the boyfriend’s arms, plunging her instead into her mother’s company on her 19th birthday - and later the plunge pool!

It took less than an hour from Bradford to get to the Titanic Spa in Linthwaite perched on the edge of the brooding Pennines, not far from Huddersfield and set in a textile mill built in 1911, the same year as its namesake RMS Titanic was launched.

Fortunately for us, the only ice in sight was chilling drinks in the bar and crushed chinks of it in the spa’s ice room to be applied by, those who dare, directly onto the body to cool down from the other heat experiences on offer.

The mill which prides itself as one of the UK’s largest destination spas is a ‘green’ building, redeveloped in 2005 as an energy-efficient eco-build which stays cool in summer and cosy in winter.

It is so eco-minded that is uses recycled paper for its spa brochure and vegetable ink dyes for the print.

Keeping it natural, it has its very own natural water source 100 metres below the Spa from the days when it was an Edwardian textile mill. These days it offers up fresh drinking water and bathing water for the pools and the showers.

This calming place is proof you don’t have to use up the air miles to seek a relaxing retreat in some far-flung destination - look no further.

The list of well-earned accolades includes the 2016 World Luxury Spa Awards Global Winner for Luxury Eco Spa as well as the World Luxury Spa Awards Country Winner: Luxury Destination Spa. Word has spread.

Cosy in our soft gowns and snug slippers and ready to unwind, we headed for the Heat and Ice Experience, reassuringly based on the ritual of bathing where the body is heated and then cooled by a series of sensual experiences.

Taking a determined dip in the refreshing plunge pool, deep breathing while applying crushed ice to the skin, multi-sensory showers mimicking hot tropical rain to sleet-like rain and my favourite, yanking a chain to empty an overhead wooden pale of water all over - simply breath-taking, literally breath-taking!

Sitting side by side soaking up the massaging foot spas gave us time to talk, there’s something so soothing about bubbles frothing round your feet.

Guests, milling around (forgive the pun) were men and women, young couples, older couples, singles.

The heat experience at Titanic is made up of a series of magical rooms, there’s the Crystal Steam Room, think Turkish steam bath, offering a humid heating sensation.

Our favourite was the invigorating Herbal Infusion room, then the Aromatherapy Room carrying on a 2,000-year-old Roman tradition, the timber-clad Scandinavian-inspired Saunarium and finally following the finest Finnish tradition the Sauna Cabin.

The choice of treatments to indulge in is vast, but we had opted for the nourishing, organic mud chamber, where we were left to coat ourselves in three-coloured clay. The last-time I had permission to do that was when I was about seven and went to stay with a friend whose hippy and delightfully dippy mum positively encouraged getting head-to-toe in mud as having a good time!

After our swim and a lounge in the outdoor hot tub we’d worked up a hunger, the light bistro lunch was high-quality and delicious. Whenever possible the in-season ingredients are all locally sourced which helps keep the food miles down.

It set us up nicely for a peek in the relaxation room where a deep pit of bean bags and dreamy music enticed us to take a little nap, it was too hard to resist and 40 winks suddenly surrendered to become an hour - Titanic had cocooned us in comfort.

Amazingly, Millie had been successfully separated from her mobile phone for seven-whole hours until the urge to switch back on to the outer world struck.

I would have stayed longer in his little piece of Pennine paradise but birthday girl still had a dress to buy for the big night out and had decided it would be nice to have mum make a home-made cake after all.

When my birthday comes round for the 52nd time, I’ll skip the cake and the gladrags and may seriously make a bolt for it here - they do candles, they do sparkle and overnight stays.