Martin and Jane Gannon were planning a quiet early retirement after selling their share in hairdressing chain Mahogany.

They had spent 25 years helping to build the business, starting with one Oxford salon with six staff in 1979. By the time they left in 2004, it had 120 staff, celebrity clients and a branch in Mayfair.

But two years into their retirement', they have launched a completely new business venture. Continuing the hardwood theme, they have founded Cedar Therapy, a bespoke day spa' in the village of Deddington, in north Oxfordshire.

Mr Gannon said: "I was a young 55 but I convinced myself that I was ready for retirement. It had got to the stage where I needed a change. The business was very successful, but I needed a different challenge and I wasn't happy.

"You have this problem when you have been with a business from the start. How do you get out of it? A lot of people have congratulated me on leaving while it is so healthy."

He added: "Retirement is not just about money it's about whether you are ready for it. Once the dust had settled we realised we didn't just want to sit back and do nothing."

The couple took over an existing beauty salon, and refurbished it so it is now "something like a cross between a Caribbean villa and an Oxfordshire country house", said Mr Gannon.

When Mahogany opened, it offered a London-style level of service and was twice as expensive as anywhere else in Oxford, giving 45-minute appointments, while elsewhere it was 20 minutes.

So how, in 2006, do you open a beauty salon with a difference?

Mr Gannon said: "Cedar Therapy feels the same as Mahogany did in the beginning. It is not hairdressing, but we do specialise in scalp treatment, using products from the holistic Aveda range.

"A lot of clients have found they can buy hair products here and do a sort of DIY hairdressing, where you finish your hair yourself. Younger people, particularly, are not having their hair styled once they have had it condition-treated."

The beauty treatments, using Guinot cosmetics, follow the same natural' principles.

Mr Gannon added: "We don't just do off-the-peg treatments, or packages like a health spa. We are trying to design something bespoke, after a discussion with the client.

"The whole experience is very calm quite different from hairdressing, which is very active and busy. In a successful salon there is always a lot of activity and a lot of chatter.

"Here, the emphasis is on building peace and calm."

Mr Gannon continued his hairdressing links as marketing consultant for Philosophy hairdressing salon in Abingdon, which was started by former Mahogany stylists. He was delighted that Prince Harry's girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, had her hair done in Abingdon last month.

He said: "That sort of thing hasn't happened in Deddington but I think it's inevitable. The country set like to seek out new places and they like the fact that it is quite low key. If you are doing the right thing, they will come.

"You don't need to be in the heart of a city."

n Contact: www.cedartherapy.com