05 Jun 2024by Tracey Davies
Tracey Davies
journalist
It’s 7.30am and I’m pulling on Lycra leggings and dusting off my ancient Reeboks with the air of a defeated soldier. Looking longingly at the rumpled oversized bed and the Nespresso machine – if I pause a split-second longer, I’ll lose my nerve. I’ve got a running date with Paula Radcliffe. I can’t be late as I’ll never catch up with the three-time winner of the London Marathon.
Overlooking the sparkling sweep of the Aegean Sea, the Turkish sun already beating down, I join a throng of much better runners as we follow Paula like our pied piper. I haven’t run for 18 months and manage a pathetic 2.5km before admitting defeat and retiring to the bar for a protein shake and an energy ball.
If I’m honest, this is not the way I usually start my days on holiday. But this weekend is different. To celebrate the opening of the Anda Barut Collection, a new five-star resort on the Delice Peninsula near Didim on Turkey’s Aegean Coast, they’ve enlisted Britain’s best-known athletes and dancers for a Wellness Weekend.
The fitness dream team
It’s been organised by Cheryl Hicks from Call Bruce, the brand agency she runs with her husband, and former Olympian sprint athlete Jamie Baulch. With their sporting and Strictly… connections, Cheryl has put together this weekend’s dream team with Paula starting the days with 5km runs along the coast, circuit training with Olympians, aquafit and boxercise with Jordan Florenville and Ellie Wraight, and Dance Shred and FitSteps classes with James and Ola Jordan, and Ian Waite from Strictly Come Dancing. In the afternoon, Rebecca Adlington holds swimming lessons in the main pool, while Olympic rowers Ric Egington and Vicky Thornley share their medal-winning techniques during rowing sessions in the sea.
The A-team: a host of Olympians and former Strictly professionals at the opening weekend
I’m about to take my first ever circuits class and beg Daley Thompson to “be gentle with me”. With Thompson on the stopwatch, Olympics legends Colin Jackson, Denise Lewis and Jamie Baulch put our 40-strong group through our paces with jumping jacks, press-ups and the dreaded burpees. Narrator: Daley Thompson is not gentle with our unfit heroine.
I stagger back to my room, exhausted to the core. It’s only 10am and I’m ready for my afternoon nap. But as I’m staying in one of the swim-up suites, instead I slip into the pool from my deck and practise for my swimming lesson with Rebecca this afternoon.
While this is a special weekend with illustrious trainers, future guests will be able to curate their own fitness programme with daily classes including yoga, aerial yoga, Zumba, Pilates and aquafit, as well as tennis, badminton and archery all included in the price. There are seven pools, including an indoor pool, a huge state-of-the-art gym with 50 weights, 11 cycles and 15 benches and there’s the option to book a personal trainer for the week. Add in plenty of healthy Mediterranean dining, and the Anda Barut Collection could almost be a rival to Saint Lucia’s BodyHoliday.
Former Strictly professionals James and Ola Jordan, and Ian Waite
Dancing with the stars
Over the launch weekend, guests can join in with as much or as little as they liked. As I’m more likely to be found in sequins rather than Lycra, I particularly enjoy the Strictly dance fitness sessions, both Dance Shred with James and Ola, and FitSteps with Ian Waite. And while I’m cursed with two left feet, learning steps from the Cha Cha and the Charleston makes exercising incredibly fun.
With 588 rooms and villas, the size of the resort could easily fit several hundred more rooms, but credit to the developers that they did not try, and the resort has an airy exclusivity to it. Banked along a narrow beach, the vast resort is split into three zones; the Community Zone, where the main restaurants and pools, the spa and bars are, the Family Zone, which has an adventure park, kids’ clubs and a huge waterpark, and the Adult Zone, which has adult-only rooms, a pool and a poolside bar giving it a hip beach club vibe.
Work up an appetite
All this exercise works up an appetite but with 12 restaurants and cafes, tummy rumbling is rarely heard at the Anda Barut Collection. Zestful Bazaar is the main restaurant and the dining rooms open out to large terrace area. Buffets at all-inclusive resorts do get a bad rap – and often for good reason – but not here. After my early-morning workout, I hit breakfast like a ravenous bull and graze through orchards of fresh fruit, fancy granolas and yoghurts, and made-to-order omelettes before hitting the extensive fresh pastry station for essential carb loading.
Olympians including heptathlete Denise Lewis were on hand to put Tracey through her paces
What elevates the buffet experience is the perfect flat white and freshly squeezed orange juice delivered to my table within seconds. Swathed in stylish sandy uniforms, all the staff are friendly and attentive. I particularly appreciate the young bar waiters whizzing around the resort on rollerblades, which means my lunchtime pina colada arrives swiftly.
Didim is the new Bodrum
With its state-of-the-art fitness approach and top-notch family facilities, the Anda Barut Collection will appeal to your clients who usually book Neilson and Mark Warner holidays. And while I can’t quite drag myself away from the pools and on-tap coladas, there’s plenty to see in the area when your clients stay for a week or more. The concierge can arrange visits to the Temple of Apollo, the Ancient Cities of Miletus and Didyma, and Lake Bafa.
Backed by more than 50 years of experience, the Barut Collection is a pioneer of high-end tourism in the Aegean region, with the Anda Barut resort bringing a focus on wellness and nature. “By 2026, Didim will become a serious competitor to Bodrum in the high-end segment. Didim is now the new Bodrum,” says Cem Karacan, general manager.
There are 588 rooms and villas split across three zones: Community, Family and Adult
On my last afternoon, my poor old bones can’t face any more exercise, so after lunch I retire to the spa. Spread over two storeys, it has a gorgeous indoor pool and a marble-clad bathing area where I’m soaked, pummelled and polished during a proper Turkish hammam which helps my muscles recover from the surprise onslaught of activity. Finally, someone is gentle with me.
Book it: EasyJet offers a seven-night stay at Anda Barut Collection from £1,338pp, including flights and private transfers, based on two sharing. The resort works on an “all-inclusive plus” system, meaning premium drinks, unlimited a la carte dining and fitness classes are included in the price. easyjet.com
