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. 

Stoneybrook Farm, Kokstad, Eastern Cape

Flintstones go luxury

You will find no annoying leafblowers here – this is a real industrial working farm, not a faux country boutique. Set just outside Kokstad amongst green hills and lakes aplenty, you will experience a warm welcome and open heartedness at Stoneybrook Farm.

I drive past enormous earthmoving equipment and a traditional homestead, down to the Dam Cottage, a spacious 4 bedroom house sprawled out overlooking a lush dam where ducks move in formation with their ducklings through the reeds. One looks out through solid glass windows from almost every aspect of the house, down to the dam, Matatiele road and hills beyond. Natural stone walls add character to every room and bathroom, and the ochre stone has been creatively used to create circular shower enclosures and shelves. It’s like the Flintstones went luxury without losing their sense of who they are.

Every one of the four bedrooms has an en-suite bathroom, two with fabulous baths overlooking the dam. The rustic feel has been well balanced with modern, light curtains and linen. African-inspired décor matches well with the chunky all wooden furniture and natural screed floor. A full kitchen and 12-seater dining table opens onto a bright scarlet set of antique velvet couches which face onto the fireplace and wide verandah.

Accommodation Experience:

There is nothing cold or unwelcoming about a lakeside stone cottage set on a working farm and I need this earthy warmth tonight. I have just left an unwell partner and ageing ill dog for a week’s work in the Eastern Cape. I break my journey in Kokstad, feeling homesick and a circling despair about the week’s work ahead in rural Eastern Cape and busy Mthatha. I am very glad to have chosen a farm stay and as I enter this homely place my spirits lift instantly. I explore every room, silently “oohing” and “aahing” at each surprising discovery. I choose the best bathroom for the later evening’s entertainment and take my sorry little takeaways out onto the verandah to enjoy with the setting sun. The “it is what it is” acceptance turns into a grateful appreciation of this place and my life, thanks to the warmth and groundedness of this lovely characterful stay.

Kurisa Moya Forest Lodge Cabins, Magoebaskloof

Where Ents Moot

Picture this view X 360 degrees and you will have some idea of life amongst the trees at Kurisa Moya Forest Lodge Cabins. This is an ancient forest where Ents Moot. At night, if you listen very well, you will hear them move about and speak in their whispery way – though not during the day when they stand tall and dignified.

In a not-so-rustic treehouse raised on stilts, within 422 hectares of indigenous forest, Kurisa Moya is a birders' paradise. Accredited Birdlife SA guide David Letsoalo will reveal the many wonders of this pristine location to you, including a Bat Hawk nesting site. Set between Tzaneen and Polokwane in the spectacular Magoebaskloof in Limpopo, there is plenty to do other than birding, such as hiking, elephant-back safaris, swimming in dams and waterfalls.

At night you can return to your private treehouse, with a fireplace, deck with Weber braai, and kitchen with a gas stove. Double glass doors and surround-windows allow one to feel connected to the forest at all times. The treehouse has a double bed, ensuite bathroom with shower, and mezzanine with twin beds under a glass apex. Everything is wooden, even the cutlery rack, made from a branch with helpful hooks. There is no electricity and the respect for the natural environment is clear in every aspect of the lodge.

Accommodation Experience

I go out at dusk to fetch something from the car. Suddenly the forest feels very much alive – there is movement in the trees and under the bushes right next to my feet. I have a sense that the forest has been waiting for humans to retreat and that my presence is revealing a different life at night. I have to stop myself from running across the little bridge across the stream back to the safety of my treehouse.

I am happy my house is on stilts and I light a fire to create a warm glow. As soon as I am settled in at the fire in the safety of this cosy space I am able to reflect quite happily on the privilege of being in such a pristine world. I feel alive and very much connected to the ancient forest and all the creatures who call this beautiful patch of the earth home.

Waterbessiebos Cottage, Tzaneen

Following the light through the trees

I could happily spend a week in this treehouse style cottage, doing little other than watching the light move through the trees. This is a surprisingly comfortable spot from which to do so, with a spacious open-plan structure and unique architecture. The house on stilts is made up of interesting shapes, with a bow-like deck jutting out into the forest garden. Sitting at the pretty round table and chairs on the deck one may enjoy warm tea and buttery toast as you sink into a simpler way of being.

Inside Waterbessiebos Cottage, there is no treehouse grunge here – the fittings are modern, with a well designed kitchen. Zig-zag cupboard handles in brushed silver contrast with the rich grain of the wood. The floors have a laminate wood finish and the walls all end in glass skylights. An artistic eye has combined grey and red in the corner lounge which makes the most of the forest views with full height windows.

In the en-suite bathroom there is a wide, deep stone bath, with matching basin and tiles. A pair of luscious, thick, soft grey gowns hang behind the door.

Accommodation Experience

It is night and an owl hoots softly outside. It is hard not to feel blessed when and owl chooses your home for the evening, and it is especially hard not to feel blessed when you are retreating in such a calm and beautiful space as this. After the busy excitement and travel of the past few days, this place is like a coming home to myself in silence and solitude. 

There is a satisfying circularity to the idea of leaving home to come home to oneself, and this is the mystery offered by a particularly characterful stay like this treehouse.

I feel a gentle unwinding and I look forward to a long night’s sleep in the soft bed as much as I look forward to watching the morning light move through the trees.

Babylonstoren, between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch

Artistic Contrast

I arrived at Babylonstoren wondering if I might be the luckiest person on earth. I left certain I was.

Style meets substance at this chic, eco-conscious haven of good taste. Here they understand the art of contrast, where old style Cape Dutch thatched buildings are perfectly balanced with crisp glass and white, modern furniture.

I love the thick whitewashed walls, with their deep, shuttered windows. There are wide stable doors with exposed timber lintels. The interiors are serene – all white, with a four-poster bed and silky pale linen, offset by high ceilings with exposed trusses. Modern glass conservatory dining areas create a flow between the indoors with the outdoors.

Truly beautiful bathrooms, each have clever designs and deep, freestanding baths. There are heated towel rails, thick white towels and bathrobes.

Each suite has air-conditioning, a flatscreen TV with DSTV, a bar fridge, and complementary bottles of locally produced Babylonstoren red and white wine and olive oil. Treats arrive in the evening from the acclaimed local restaurant, Babel.

Accommodation Experience:

Aside from the famed restaurant, and cutting edge spa, the feature gardens are one of the main attractions at Babylonstoren. Not being much of a gardener myself, I force myself out of my beautifully decorated suite to take a dutiful tour of the grounds. I am instantly drawn into the natural, organic gardens which are both curvy and styled, the heady growth contrasted with artistic mosaic inlays and sculptures. I make my way towards an interesting looking tunnel in a quiet corner of the gardens. As I enter the tunnel and round a corner, I come upon a multitude of hessian bags, hung on elegant ropes at different heights. They are bursting forth with plants – strawberries and other fresh green growth. It is a ridiculously marvelous sight, which at first stops me dead in my tracks. Then it takes me down a tunnel of insight where I suddenly see a glimpse of the passionate dedication and artistic release with which the gardens were developed. I am overcome with a sense of appreciation, drawn into a mystical portal of awe and wonder. Here there was no pandering or second guessing – just a bold vision of creative expression. You can feel the imperative. This is true art – where someone has given freedom of expression to their creative instincts and unique personality, which moves us into a space from which we can be inspired to be daring and excessive and to excel beyond all imposed traditional boundaries.

Porcupine Hills Farm, Near Grabouw

Country Connections

  

Porcupine Hills Guest Farm and Conservancy epitomises all things country – old painted biscuit tins stacked high on a kitchen shelf, tongue-in-groove ceilings, wooden furniture, gingham and floral fabrics and double cottage pane doors opening out from every room onto wide verandahs and pergola patios. This is big sky country, where outdoor living is a natural part of life. 

There is a choice of accommodation, and we stay in the Farmhouse, a classic two bedroom cottage with a long verandah and an attic bedroom upstairs. The lounge has a sprawling couch and fireplace, and there are additional seating areas outside. The kitchen is pretty, with butler sink, wooden table and white painted cupboards. Soft sage bedrooms have white linen and floral curtains and cushions, and white painted cottage pane doors open out from both rooms onto private patios. The bathrooms are surprisingly glamorous and each has a box skylight through which one can see stars at night.

Outside the cottage there is a braai area with benches and reclining loungers. There is a natural style, curved swimming pool with views to forever. Set in the Diepklowe private nature reserve, we are surrounded by high rock cliffs, where Black Eagles soar.

Accommodation Experience

In true country weekend style, we wake early to the sound of birdsong, but fall back asleep and lie in ‘til late. We emerge from our bedrooms at different times during the day, tousled and well rested. Finally we are brought together by the smell of warm flapjacks from the kitchen.

This is the real country magic – a space to rest and become the most natural version of oneself, from which vantage point one can connect with family and friends. In a recent survey, I asked young people “When is your family most peaceful?” The majority of the replies were about holidays, weekends and times when everyone is together. The replies show how stressed and disconnected we are much of the time, and that the recipe for harmony is so simple and achievable. Our stay at Porcupine Hills was precious respite and a lovely memory of family connectedness which we will draw on for many years to come.