Health Hydro (1968)

Uckfield, Sussex.
M/S of a stately home and grounds; commentator informs us this is the Buxted Park Health Hydro. A couple in swimwear go running along a path towards an outdoor swimming pool; other guests are splashing about in the water. In the gardens people play croquet. A ginger-haired man is shown his luxury room with a view by a woman (could be Principle Heather Shipman). Outside, on the steps of the main building, a woman practises various yoga postures.
A woman chops fruit on a table; pan across a table of food offered: water with lemon, yoghurt, fruit, an apple and cheese. Nice shots as women collect trays of food from this selection and serve themselves at a salad bar. Various shots show the ginger man, clad only in a pair of baggy Y-fronts, being given a check-up by a doctor. He is weighed and has his blood pressure taken, then lies on the examination table to have his neck massaged. (Brilliant groovy music on the soundtrack.)
Illustrating forms of relaxation at the health farm; women paint pictures in an art class; another woman has her shoulders massaged with a buzzing round instrument; ginger man gets into a bath and a man directs a high-pressure water jet under the water at his muscles; some rather matronly looking women exercise on bike and rowing machines and one uses a vibratory belt. M/S of two women looking at clothes in the tiny boutique in the main house.
Ginger man comes out of a sauna wearing a towel and then showers himself down. Men and women in blue towelling robes are seen walking through alternate hot and cold foot baths, which stimulates circulation in the feet. One of the women reacts as she steps into the bath nearest us - this must be the cold one!
Note: on file is a brochure and photos of the Health Hydro, correspondence and a news article from the Daily Mirror about health farms. Cuts exist - see separate record.
FILM ID:447.05
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[@mystified1429]

What a find ! I know Buxted Park well, having worked there from 1979 to 1985 . I've seen still photos but didn't know there was film footage. Not surprising I suppose because the owners were Mr. and Mrs. Shipman ,who owned Twickenham film studios. Now one of the Hand Picked group of hotels.

[@radiobiologist]

What? Yoga existed in the 1960s?

[@gwenlop9512]

Yep, and it's been here ever since 2700 BC too. The Indians popularized it in 1893 in America, then in the UK in 1943 on BBC radio.