I ♥ Rosetta Because ...

I ♥ Rosetta

Hi, I’m John Wetton from Jolo Guest Farm in Rosetta in the Natal Midlands, KwaZulu Natal.

Rosetta IS BEST KNOWN FOR peace, tran­quil­lity, a real vil­lage atmo­sphere hav­ing no 21^st cen­tury  commercialism.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Blueberry Hill for mag­ni­fi­cent views of the Berg.

THE BEST Berg PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Kamberg and Highmoor Nature Reserves.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT Gowrie Village. Continued

Babylonstoren – A Celebration of Food

Babylonstoren

Constance-Marie is wear­ing one of the straw hats I've just furi­ously coveted in the shop across from the res­taur­ant at Babylonstoren. Her white linen blouse, faded black jeans and secateurs non­chal­antly rest­ing in a pouch tied around her hips makes her the epi­tome of garden chic crossed with a hint of hippie.

There is, by now, a group of us gathered in the court­yard of Babel, the res­taur­ant at Babylonstoren, for the garden tour. We sit and stand at inter­vals around a black­board that broad­casts the sea­sonal veg and fruit the res­taur­ant will use today.

Behind me, up on a table that seems barely able to deal with their size, are three enorm­ous pump­kins and squashes, the likes of which I've only seen in garden­ing magazines. They look like your com­mon garden pump­kin on ster­oids. Continued

I ♥ Morgans Bay Because ...

I ♥ Morgans Bay

Hi, I’m Erica from Morgan Bay Hotel in Morgans Bay on the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape.

Morgans Bay IS BEST KNOWN FOR beau­ti­ful beaches and fam­ily hol­i­days.
GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN on the view­ing deck at the Milkwood Spa, it has amaz­ing ocean views .

THE BEST sun­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Kranses.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the lagoon and rock pools.

WHEN THE WEATHER'S GOOD, I LIKE TO take long walks along the beach.
WHEN THE WEATHER'S BAD, I LIKE TO watch the sea from the hotel. Continued

Weekly Events Round Up (14 — 20 May 2012)

National Koi Show

Here’s hop­ing you are plan­ning on treat­ing your Mother to a spe­cial day out on Sunday 13 May 2012 in cel­eb­ra­tion of Mother’s Day! With the many excit­ing annual events and fest­ivals hap­pen­ing all over South Africa to choose from, that you can enjoy with fam­ily and friends, you are sure to find some­thing perfect.

The sea­sonal trans­ition from Autumn to Winter has us embark­ing on events with a dif­fer­ence – you can try free run­ning a new sport­ing phe­nomenon tak­ing Jozi by storm or par­ti­cip­ate in an extreme sport whilst tak­ing in a bit of South African his­tory. Other sport­ing events to join in are a char­ity Golf Day, a Big Walk or 10km run­ning race. Many other activ­it­ies on offer include a Koi Show, Flower Show, Hospitality exhib­i­tion and Port and Wine Festival to name a few, so don’t go into hiberna­tion this Winter come and enjoy some of these fab­ulous events this week...

Continued

I ♥ Kommetjie Because ...

I ♥ Kommetjie

Hi, I’m Jo Walsh from Sea Breeze Kommetjie in Kommetjie on the Atlantic Seaboard of Cape Town.

Kommetjie IS BEST KNOWN FOR among many other things, its awe­some nat­ural sur­round­ings, world class surf­ing des­tin­a­tion, immuc­u­late beaches, fresh air, cray­fish­ing, sea­sonal whales, fam­ous light house and spec­tac­u­lar views in all directions.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT the fam­ous Long Beach or for the slightly more adven­tur­ous at the top of the Slangkop Mountain with the vil­lage, sea and moun­tails as your sur­real back drop.

THE BEST sun­set PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT The Kom.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the his­toric light house. Continued

Nicolson’s Country Cafe in Hilton – A Review

Nicolson’s Country Café

Situated on the pic­tur­esque grounds of Garlington Estate in the small town of Hilton in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, Nicolson’s Country Café is an upmar­ket res­taur­ant that spe­cial­ises in fine cuisine. Interested to see what they had to offer I vis­ited them for lunch recently and the exper­i­ence proved to be one to savour.

The lunch menu is without a doubt one of the most inter­est­ing and appet­ising I’ve ever encountered. Starters include dishes such as Spanish-style Sweetcorn Fritters (a paprika and sweet­corn frit­ter topped with guacamole, crème fraiche and cori­ander and accom­pan­ied by cho­rizo slices and a pep­per salsa), scrump­tious soup of the day and the Midlands Trout Fillet (hot smoked trout fil­let, flash-fried in herb but­ter, topped with home-made horseradish aioli and olive oil and served with crumbed pota­toes). Continued

I ♥ Kempton Park Because ...

I ♥ Kempton Park

Hi, I’m Karen Swanepoel from Nkanga Lodge in Kempton Park on the East Rand in Gauteng.

Kempton Park IS BEST KNOWN FOR OR Tambo International, Africa’s busiest air­port, which is loc­ated in Kempton Park.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Kempton Park Golf Course; this is where Ernie Els learned to played golf when he was grow­ing up.

THE BEST out­door PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT Modderfontein Conservation Park which is home to 253 dif­fer­ent bird spe­cies, small pop­u­la­tions of Black-Backed Jackal, Steenbok, Duiker, Genet, Zebra, Black Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Blesbok, Reedbuck and Highveld spring­bok.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT a fun night out at Emperors Palace. Continued

De Hoop Nature Reserve — Photographs

A really good friend, who lives in the States, came down to Cape Town for one week and one week only. We made the most of it ... She lived in Cape Town for a few years but had never been to the De Hoop Nature Reserve and this was on her bucket list. We decided to head up to De Hoop for one night.

It was a very long drive and as we'd left at the crack of dawn after two of our group had been at a wed­ding until the wee hours of the morn­ing and hav­ing a baby with us (who was only a few months old) it took a while to get star­ted. We made our way to the first stop in Caledon to get sup­plies and then we were off. We hit the dirt road which slowed us down con­sid­er­ably and be warned if this is your first time there the dirt road is LONG ... and just when you think you've reached the end you turn a corner to see more road.

The reserve itself is magical. A com­plete con­trast of green flora, the white sandy beaches, blue sea, rocks and a myriad of anim­als. We felt like we're reached a spe­cial part of the world and all of us took a moment to appre­ci­ate the beauty we found ourselves in. I think I'll let the pic­tures speak for them­selves ... Continued

Tea On 23 in Pietermaritzburg – A Tea Garden With A Difference

Tea on 23

When a friend recently sug­ges­ted I visit Tea on 23 in Pietermaritzburg, I was a little sur­prised since I had never heard of this eat­ery before. As it turns out, Tea on 23 is situ­ated a mere kilo­metre away from my home, at 23 Carbis Road, Scottsville to be exact.

The estab­lish­ment is owned by hus­band and wife team Rob and Carrie Boyd who have a con­sid­er­able amount of exper­i­ence in the res­taur­ant industry. Carrie is well known to many Maritzburgers hav­ing run the very suc­cess­ful Boyd’s Café at the nearby Hayfields shop­ping centre for a num­ber of years, with Rob assist­ing when required.

However, as time passed they decided they needed a change, res­ult­ing in the open­ing of Tea on 23 in November 2011. “Although Boyd’s was a suc­cess­ful and prof­it­able res­taur­ant we felt we needed a change of pace, and so we sold the busi­ness in June of last year,” said Rob. “With Tea on 23 the focus is not just get­ting bums on seats so that we can pay the bills, but rather on provid­ing afford­able, qual­ity meals in a relaxed and tran­quil set­ting that is unique to this part of Pietermaritzburg,” he explained. Continued

I ♥ Randburg Because ...

I ♥ Randburg

Hi, I’m Judith from Idwala Guest House in Randburg in Gauteng.

Randburg IS BEST KNOWN FOR Cresta Shopping Mall, great con­certs at the Coca Cola Dome, shop­ping and out­door fun at Brightwater Commons, excel­lent Johannesburg golf courses and a lot of good res­taur­ants and bars.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT Northcliff Hill, just 5 min from Idwala. You will enjoy a 360 /degree pan­or­amic view on Johanesburg as background.

THE BEST nature-background PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens or at Emmarentia Dam.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS AT the splash pool at Idwala. Continued

Weekly Events Round Up (7 — 13 May 2012)

Charity Golf Day

As we start to recover fol­low­ing the pub­lic hol­i­day season’s flurry of activ­it­ies, do not des­pair as we have many more excit­ing annual events and fest­ivals from all over South Africa to keep you busy over the next week. Don't let the impend­ing winter weather give you the blues get out and about and have a little bit of fun by spend­ing some time with your fam­ily and friends by doing some­thing different.

Mark on your cal­en­dars some of the fant­astic activ­it­ies on offer whether it be prac­tising your golf swing, enjoy­ing African music con­certs, meet­ing your favour­ite author and pick­ing up a book or two at one of the lit­er­ary fest­ivals, to re-planting indi­gen­ous forest and giv­ing back to the envir­on­ment — make sure you check out some of these amaz­ing events this week...

Continued

I ♥ Kimberley Because ...

I ♥ Kimberley

Hi, I’m Riana Engelbrecht from Broadwater between Kimberley and Douglas in the Northern Cape.

Kimberley IS BEST KNOWN FOR the Big Hole, the largest hand-dug excav­a­tion in the world.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN in the old Town at the Big Hole, to look like a film star from the dia­mond era.

THE BEST flamingo PICTURES CAN BE TAKEN AT Kamfersdam, just out­side Kimberley on the Jo’burg Road.
OTHER HAPPY SNAPS in the Old Town at the Big Hole. Continued

Winner 3 Night Stay at Exclusive Botsebotse Luxury Retreat

CONGRATULATIONS to Tania Timmons of South Africa who has won a 3-night stay at pic­ture per­fect Botsebotse Luxury Retreat, a 2012 World Luxury Travel Award Nominee. Includes three con­sectutive mid­week nights accom­mod­a­tion for two adults shar­ing; full break­fast, lunch or pic­nic bas­kets and romantic 3-course din­ners, one  30-minute in-room mas­sage per per­son; romantic sur­prise turndowns; cof­fee and tea with meals (drinks excluded); free self help muffins through­out the day; com­pli­ment­ary use of our Jacuzzi, moun­tain bikes, and DVD’s; as many of your own game drives, game walks and bicycle safaris as you like.

Tania, your voucher is on its way. Please con­tact Botsebotse Luxury Retreat to redeem your voucher (valid until 5 November 2012). We’re sure you’ll enjoy your stay! Continued

Hiking Above Wellington – Happy Valley Trail in the Limietberg

The Limietberg

An easy there-and-back 9 km hike, ideal for fam­il­ies and begin­ners that starts in Bainskloof, is lim­ited to 12 people a day, and fol­lows a sec­tion of the Limietberg Trail to Junction Pool.

The start of the Happy Valley hik­ing trail is at the entrance to the Limietberg Nature Reserve, perched up above the town of Wellington. To reach there we've scaled Bainskloof pass by car, the hair­pin bends and intense moun­tain views a con­sist­ent reminder of the scale of work that must have gone into cre­at­ing the pass.

'The moun­tain that lim­its' — the Limietberg — des­pite sound­ing as though it severely hindered the pas­sage of lat­ter day wag­ons was not, in fact, a limit to cross­ing the moun­tains, and today we come and go through a hole with barely an acknow­ledge­ment of the mag­ni­fi­cence of this range that forms part of the Du Toitskloof moun­tain range. Continued

I ♥ Witsand Because ...

I ♥ Witsand

Hi, I’m Clair Pienaar from Whale Watchers Inn in Witsand in the Cape Overberg, Western Cape.

Witsand IS BEST KNOWN FOR being recog­nised as “The Whale Nursery “of South Africa, also for being situ­ated at the mouth of the biggest estu­ary in South Africa, The Breede River is well known for fish­ing. Kite surf­ing near the river mouth has become very pop­u­lar and our Blue Flag long open beaches and good swim­ming remains a favourite.The Witsand area has a num­ber of large Ostrich farms and dur­ing Spring you will see large flocks of our National Bird, the Blue Crane against the back drop of bright green wheat­fields and bright yel­low can­ola fields.

GET YOUR PICTURE TAKEN on the rocks in front of the Anchorage Restaurant, over­look­ing the beach to catch the won­der­ful hol­i­day atmo­sphere of Witsand. Continued