Cape Heritage Hotel, Cape Town

Celebration of local, traditional and modern

This is one of the best city hotels I have ever stayed at. With a penchant for character, I have always been drawn to historic hotels. This is not without its risks – think musty curtains, dodgy plumbing, creaking stairs and dark, pokey rooms. Not this one. I don’t quite know how they have done it, but the Cape Heritage Hotel in Cape Town is the perfect blend of old and new.

One of the oldest buildings in Cape Town, the hotel has been perfectly preserved. The walls are at least half a meter thick, with deep-set sash windows. The original wooden stairs are solid (and cleverly carpeted in the middle). There are fresh, modern fabrics throughout and the décor is both tasteful and creative. Local vibrant South African art celebrates the context and brings colour and texture to every room. Beautiful modern-but-traditional wall-mounted lights fittings and chandelier add elegance and grandeur. The hotel prides itself on its glamorous and spacious bathrooms, which are a delight to experience.

A sumptuous breakfast is served in the sunny courtyard next to the oldest living grape vine in the city.

Accommodation Experience:

Unusually, I choose one of the standard rooms at the Cape Heritage Hotel, because I have fallen in love with the elegant bath placed in the bedroom up against a high window. The bed is equally pretty and superbly comfortable. I wake early and roll over to find a perfectly positioned light fitting within easy reach. I look around and realise that every single luxury feature in the room is well chosen, and perhaps more importantly, functions effectively. There are thoughtful extra touches – a well placed extending mirror in the bathroom, a glass jar with cotton wool, a heated towel rail. I have a moment, like at the end of a great stage performance, where I want to first sit silently nodding in appreciation, then break out in quiet, slow, lengthy applause.

Quarters Hotel on Florida, Morningside, Durban

Professional with Soul

 

It was always going to be a success – taking a vintage building, in a convenient part of fabulous Durban, restoring it expertly and decorating it with understated elegance. Quarters Hotel on Florida is located in the restaurant-rich area of Morningside, with easy access to Berea, the city centre or Durban North. 

Catering for business clients and holiday makers, the hotel has all the modern conveniences, such as 24 hour reception service, good security, wifi, a desk in each room as well as a large, flat-screen television. Attentive and well trained staff are efficient and helpful. A conservatory-style popular local restaurant serves delicious meals, while a garden bar lends a holiday feel and is a cool place in which to enjoy an icy drink.

But what draws me to the hotel is the pretty Victorian buildings, with covered verandahs, high sash windows, spacious air-conditioned rooms, and modern yet traditional décor. My suite has a sleigh bed with restrained, finessed fittings and up-to-date fabrics. There is a marble-tiled bathroom with a large clear-glass shower and bath. 

Accommodation experience:

If this hotel was a person I would describe it as a successful professional with soul. I notice that there are many fellow business travelers staying at the hotel, many of whom are also female. The hotel subtly caters for a wide range of executive needs, and the restaurant offers a diverse menu, from the rich and fanciful to the homely and healthy. 

Travelling alone on business can be a lonely experience, and I am grateful to be in this space which seems to understand my needs and offers a gentle comradery in a pretty and inspiring setting.

5th Seasons Guesthouse, Nelspruit

Lowveld Classic

Gorgeous little cottages set up against a high koppie (stone hillside), made of classical tin walls and wooden decks which are so quintessential to this Lowveld region, I am well pleased to have discovered 5^th Seasons Guesthouse in Nelspruit (Mbombela). 

The beautiful décor manages to be both stylish and minimalist, always a happy combination in my world. Naturally themed, choose between the Bird Room, the Tree Room and the Botanical Room, all identical in layout. With a slipper bath, King sized bed, a couch, kitchenette, double cottage-pane doors and a deck opening out onto a spacious view, the huts are well designed and thoughtfully finished.

Each cottage has an individual parking bay, with private access through a raised wooden walkway. The hillside is covered in big rocks and large-rooted trees and is home to many indigenous bird species. The cottages are situated 5km outside of Nelspruit (Mbombela) on the R40 towards Barberton in Mpumalanga.

Accommodation Experience:

Called “Kruger Park nerds” by our family and friends, we were planning to head out at dawn’s first light from 5^th Seasons Guesthouse in Nelspruit, where we had stopped over on our way to our beloved Park. But somehow the gentle slowing of the Lowveld has infiltrated this place. We find ourselves in no hurry at all to leave the guesthouse, first lying under soft covers as long as we like, then sitting outside on the high deck, drinking coffee while enjoying the sounds of the many birds of this area. So lovely is this place that I even find myself wishing for another night here, as a transitional space between the hectic Real World and the otherworldly space of the Park.

Papkuilsfontein, Nieuwoudtville

 

Gently Lit

I sit at a small, square, wooden dining table, writing these words in an old journal. My source of light is gentle, even though it comes from 3 sources – a candle, a paraffin lamp and the wood-burning fire. I am at Papkuilsfontein, Rondekraal stone and thatched cottage. There is no electricity, though by day the cottage is amply lit by 3 doors, 2 windows and glass panels at the front end of the cottage. At night the natural flames create a warm glow. 

The Rondenkraal cottage is set within an old, stone-walled horse kraal, in a field of yellow grass or flowers, in the middle of nowhere, on the aptly-named Moedverloorpad (“losing will road”).

There are several thoughtful seating areas facing different directions, to make the most of the rising and setting sun and deep shade. A photographer’s paradise, there is texture and colour everywhere – thatch, stone walls, windmills, fynbos, rolling hills and big skies with cotton clouds. Thanks to the stone kraal wall and vast open fields, the privacy of the cottage impresses me. Usually rather a prude, I am so alone here that even I walk freely between bathroom and bedroom with the windows and doors wide open.

The cottage has a classical long-barn shape which is typical of this area. What gives it a modern twist is the glass wall at the top end of the cottage. Inside there is a pleasing aesthetic, with thick stone walls and recessed windows, old wooden furniture and an open-plan layout. At the top end of the cottage, the inviting lounge has rich red wingback rocking chairs facing the fireplace. In the middle of the cottage, the kitchen is well-equipped with a full sized fridge, gas stove and oven, and a stove-top espresso pot. A friendly dining table divides the living area from the sleeping area. The bedroom is pretty - a double bed with a white mosquito net, white linen and a soft tartan blanket. Finally, there is a bathroom at the other end of the cottage, with a deep ball-and-claw bath, as well as an outdoor shower.

Accommodation Experience:

I light every one of the paraffin lamps, as well as making a fire – it is the main entertainment here at night. I am tired from the long trip - in a good way. Sunburnt, physically sore from too much exploration of the wonderful surrounds, I am left feeling a bit old and weathered. There is a safe vulnerability that this Namaqua landscape brings. Strange contradictions unhinge me – the dry vastness contrasted with the myriad of pretty flowers; the lack of keys in the doors and the sense of complete safety; the organic, rustic nature of this cottage along with the containing, thick stone walls; the simple but ample equipment to meet every need without the back-lit technology and excess which keep us distanced from ourselves.

It is a choice whether to engage this gentle undressing of all pretences and distractions. There is plenty to do in the area if one needs diversions. But I sense that my only task tonight is to sit here alone and give in to this experience of vulnerable openness and see to which new destination it takes me.

The Lighthouse, Yzerfontein

Heaven on Earth

If there is a heaven, and if I should make it there, and if by any chance one may pre-order a heavenly home – I choose this one. Too many “ifs” and I shall rather enjoy heaven on earth, here and now. In true heaven-sent style, I look onto white – white linen, white curtains, white walls, white floors, white beach sands and white spray on the blue-grey sea. Even my cotton pajamas are white. The white ceiling ends in a lighthouse-style round skylight, creating a halo above my bed.

I am at the Lighthouse (see www.lighthouselocation.com), a glamorous beach house, and actual movie set. It is right on the beach, in the pristine little coastal hamlet of Yzerfontein. So close to Cape Town one can actually see Table Mountain across the bay, many of these enviable homes are also available as holiday rental villas. The Lighthouse is a spacious 3-bedroom family-friendly home, with an additional two fully equipped granny flats which may be hired separately or together.

The serene décor is perfectly balanced with every possible luxury – integrated sound system, dishwashing machine, fully fitted kitchen, indoor and outdoor fireplaces, heated towel rails, under-floor heating and marble tiling in the bathrooms. The upstairs deep bath is set against a bank of sash windows, overlooking the bay. Downstairs there is a spacious sauna with a glass front to views of the ocean. One needs a week here just to experience every aspect of this beautifully designed home.

Accommodation Experience:

I sit in bed with 180 degree sea views. It is a calm grey morning after last night's ostentatious sunset. The sun rising makes the skies pale orange. In the far distance there is a light from an actual lighthouse which comes and goes, and one can imagine its circular motion. From my enviable tower bedroom I wonder if the owners of this beach house have saved some orphans in a previous life to be so lucky to return to such a haven. I chuckle, realising that I have actually worked with orphaned children and still I do not feel worthy of such bliss. I guess none of us really deserve or could ever earn or own such happiness, and yet paradoxically such beauty is all around us and is a gift freely given for the receiving. The Hafiz poem goes on to say:

There are so many gifts

Still unopened from your birthday

There are so many handcrafted presents

That have been sent to you by God.

The Beloved does not mind repeating,

"Everything I have is also yours."