Augusta de Mist Country Retreat, Swellendam

Ordinary Miracle

I was beginning to feel a bit bored with luxury accommodation – spoilt by too much of a good thing I guess. I was on the search for something exceptional. I needed art. The moment I opened the delightful website of Augusta de Mist Country Retreat in Swellendam I knew I had found it. In fact, don’t even bother reading the rest of this review – really, I won’t be offended at all – just click straight on www.augustademist.co.za.

A sense of humour and creative flair pervades every aspect of this beautiful 1802 manor house. Augusta de Mist was named after diary-writing teenager Augusta de Mist, who travelled through Swellendam with her father, a Dutch commissioner. This is one of the oldest buildings in one of the oldest towns in South Africa.

The gardens are lush, with lots of secret hideaways and paths to discover. There is a pool with elegant handmade loungers made by a local company from used wine barrels. The gardens are quiet and one feels far out in the country, even though the guesthouse is right in the centre of Swellendam, near the Drostdy Museum. It is within easy and safe walking to excellent local restaurants, even at night.

The integrity of the original homestead has been beautifully preserved, with original Yellowwood doors and beams. And now each room has been turned into a living art installation, with dramatic décor and gorgeous furniture. Sage and soft blues meld against the meter-thick walls. A show-stopping silver couch and feminist South African art work draw the eye in the lounge.

Apart from your own indoor and outdoor seating areas, there are at least 3 different dining areas inside the main lodge – one off the kitchen, out front on the “stoep” (verandah) and at the back patio – such that one may follow the sun around the building at all times of the day.

After much nail-biting deliberation (and a few backwards and forward emails), I choose to stay in the Buchu Suite, a freestanding cottage at the top of the garden and edge of the forest. It has large sash windows, a stable door as well as another set of double doors facing out onto the woods. In the lounge there are two funky upholstered armchairs and a fireplace.

I would be hard pressed to choose between my favourite room in this cottage – the lounge, bedroom or bath. The heavenly bed has white linen, a quilt and cushions of Dutch settler Jan van Riebeek. It is one of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. There is a deep, shuttered window at the head of the bed.

A glorious bespoke Livingstone bath is set up against a high window. There is a spacious shower and double basin. Cool screed floors and reed-and-open-beam ceilings bring the modern fittings perfectly back into context.

Accommodation Experience

Discovering this place feels like one of Sarah McLachlan’s “ordinary miracles”, bringing hope and creative inspiration at a time when I need it. I have a fun afternoon bounding around taking photographs of the main lodge and my loveliest of suites, enjoying the textures and colours which come with good decorating and an historic building. 

Finally I settle into an armchair, doors on both sides of my lounge opened wide to let in the breeze. As I enjoy a richly flavoured coffee, admiring the artistic room and the way the light comes in from the forest views, I realise that what is at the end of the rainbow is so much more than what one expected to find, if we are open and awake to the ordinary miracles of life. 

Jan Harmsgat Country House, Swellendam

Deep calls to deep

Jan Harmsgat Country House near Swellendam offers timeless hospitality with soul. Here you can experience an historic Cape Dutch farm together with warm and friendly hosting and gourmet local produce. As you walk into the original 1723 farmhouse, the smell of thatch, thick stone walls, heavy Yellowwood beams, polished Cape Dutch furniture and an almost three centuries old hearth will transport you back in time.

The bedrooms at Jan Harmsgat are vast enough to do justice to the dramatic beds, wardrobes and baths. There is underfloor heating, air-conditioning and every possible thoughtful item to make your stay as comfortable as it is beautiful. My extra wide King-size bed is dressed in the finest white linen, with King-size pillows and a perfectly soft mattress. An upholstered chair balances the glossy wooden wardrobe and dresser. Traditional striped linen blinds shade the room from the bright sun from two wide and high sash windows. There are modern, yet traditional, light fittings, in keeping with the Cape Dutch style which avoids overdone fussiness.

The bathroom is as spacious as the bedroom, fitted with black and white tiles, a long bath, huge shower and elegant double basin. Behind the door I discover the softest, white dressing gown ever – wearing it is like hugging a lamb.

The rooms all seem to have their own outdoor entrances and face out onto different directions, with creative water features, patios and verandahs with outdoor seating areas. This is a working farm and the fruit orchard comes right up to the homestead with the heady smell of peach blossoms and plums.

I love outbuildings, especially on an historic farm, and there are plenty to explore at Jan Harmsgat. And old wagon rests outside a shed with big painted double wooden doors. The honeymoon suite has been given pride of place above an old long barn. A long pool, almost the full length of the barn, can be found at the end of an arched row of vines.

Accommodation Experience:

Everything is so lovely at Jan Harmsgat that I have a gentle post-midlife-crisis moment. I believe fully in following your dreams, even if they cost you everything, which they often will demand – but you are likely to get it all back again tenfold. But what if, after all you dreamed for and more came true, and you are still left with what David Whyte calls “those tiny but frightening questions” like “what now?” What if at the end of the rainbow you are just left with shiny yellow stuff in a pot?

Now don’t be alarmed – to me these are not depressing questions – we psychologists love dwelling on complicated emotional responses. All that these call for is scary honesty and vulnerability – the kind that make you feel very alive and awake. In the words of Elizabeth Gilbert: “Tell the truth, tell the truth, tell the truth.” And from another person I greatly admire: “And the truth shall set you free.”

And so I sit in my most beautiful bed, listening to the gentle sounds of turtle doves and these equally gentle questions, and what they have to say to me. The relief is instant, followed by blinding hope and a quiet promise: “Oh but my dear – there is so much more.”

Angala Boutique Hotel, Franschhoek

Portal of gratitude

Imagine this – five star luxury in a natural setting, with a spiritual focus to their beautiful accommodation. I feel I have fallen through a portal of gratitude into a parallel world. The meaning behind the name Angala includes the creation of the earth by the divine, an ongoing process of regenerating limitless potential (see www.angala.co.za). One enters into this spirit the moment one drives through the wine estate and walks past the large wooden sculptured heart and thick lavender into the open plan lounge and elegant dining area of the lodge.

Angala looks out to mountains for 360 degrees of its view. It is the perfect central location between Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl, from which to explore the surrounding wine estates, restaurants and countryside – if you ever manage to leave that is. I overhear a couple asking if they may extend their stay at Angala and I similarly long to make this my loveliest of homes for as long as possible. The peace and stillness simply captivate one and a quiet bond soon develops amongst the likeminded, nature-loving guests and warm, calm staff.

The light-filled rooms overlook the lake or gardens which are rich with diverse birdlife. Each room has a lounge area opening with double glass doors onto a private verandah with seating area. Back inside there is a round dining table with chairs, a most beautiful bespoke kitchenette wardrobe with cutlery and crockery, a Nespresso coffee maker, microwave, chopping board and sink. Every luxury has been thought of, and there are beautiful cotton gowns and slippers, heated towel rails, underfloor heating, air-conditioning and a ceiling fan. In the sophisticated bedroom area there is subtle downlighting and pretty bedside lamps to highlight the silky white linen and upholstered headboard.

But it's the bathrooms that win my decor heart - tiled in marble, fitted in minimalist white and with one side a full height set of glass sliding doors with views onto private gardens and the lake beyond. A deep freestanding bath faces the lovely view past double indoor showers and an outdoor shower on the deck. A portion of the deck wall rolls away to open the sense of space and continuity even further.

This is cutting-edge South African accommodation - the perfect blend of sensory, spiritual, environmental, natural, modern and aesthetic. The gardens are lush and decorated with soulful wooden sculptures. The open area in front of the main lodge is graced with an exquisite eco-pool, surrounded by Arum Lilies, Daffodils and reeds. 

I love it when an historic building is brought gently into the 21^st Century with aesthetic care and the main lodge is both modern and traditional, and very South African. It has a wide verandah on two sides, one side overlooking the valley, and the other side facing the eco pool. There is an outdoor and indoor fireplace with wooden and grey upholstered eco-style furniture. The food, which is served outdoors when the weather is good, is delicious and I feel a surge of pride in what South African accommodation like this offers its delighted guests.

Accommodation Experience:

Ascetic spirituality has us conditioned to divide the beautiful and pampering from the spiritual. This stems, perhaps, from Descarte’s mind-body dualism and the disillusionment with the wealth and corruption seen in the church, coinciding with the birth of the paradoxically titled “enlightenment” and modernism. The shift meant giving perhaps too much power to the scientific and intellectual, with the loss of the soulful and natural. Rediscovery of ancient spiritual practices like Mindfulness are now encouraging us to spend less time trapped in our thoughts and to bridge the mind-body divide by integrating the spiritual with the sensory and living fully in the present moment. Still, the idea of simply being present to nature and our senses scares us.

I decide to take up the challenge, and instead of dashing about taking too many photographs, as I would usually do, I decide to make the most of my heavenly bathroom at Angala.

If you have never had the privilege of an outdoor shower under open African skies, this should be on your list. And Angala has one of the best outdoor showers I have ever experienced – overlooking the mountains and gardens from a raised wooden platform with wooden sides for complete privacy. A cool breeze comes off the lake and brings the scent of orange blossom in from the garden.

As usual, despite all the luxury and finesse, it is nature that steals the show. From my shower I see a bright yellow and black bishop flit past and an emerald sunbird comes to visit. A distant mountain, the Paarl perhaps, is suddenly lit up in a spectacular display of light breaking through the clouds. I don’t even rush for my camera, just smile and gaze in silent awe and gratitude.