Chart Farm Photographs

My hus­band and I did some­thing dif­fer­ent on Sunday – we vis­ited Chart Farm in Wynberg Park and picked our own roses!  I had been earlier in the year only to find that roses are sea­sonal and I was a few weeks to late but tak­ing my flower­ing Iceberg rose at home as an indic­a­tion that other roses might also be bloom­ing we made our way to the farm.  Located near Wynberg Park, Chart Farm and its farm style envir­on­ment is well worth a visit.

There are a wide vari­ety of roses and they are avail­able for pick-your-own (a bucket and secateurs are provided) or altern­at­ively you can pur­chase the blooms ready picked.  It is lovely though to wander the ter­races, admir­ing the gor­geous col­ours on dis­play and tak­ing in the views of the Constantia Valley.  The cost to pick your own is R4 per stem Monday to Saturday.  Sunday pick­ing is half price; R2 per stem.  Already picked roses are R5.50 per stem.

Being a farm, the farm stall offers fresh, sea­sonal farm pro­duce which include lem­ons, limes, grapes, veges and chest­nuts.  For the keen garden­ers com­post and mulch are avail­able to pur­chase per bag. If you need lar­ger quant­it­ies a bulk deliv­ery could be arranged.

The views are there to be enjoyed and what bet­ter way to do that than by stop­ping for tea at The Terrace Coffee Shop.  Home-made cakes as well as break­fast and lunch are served between 9am to 4.30pm (with last orders at 4.00pm) daily.

We really enjoyed our trip to Chart Farm and will def­in­itely go back again. Continued

Slow Food Flick, Pick & Mix — Photographs

Last week I had a fant­astic even­ing out at the Fugard Theatre in District 6, Cape Town. I atten­ded a screen­ing of the ori­ginal Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which was made in 1971. The even­ing was organ­ised by Slow Food Mother City and they had arranged a sweet mar­ket before the movie began.

Were we in for a treat, local pro­du­cers set up stalls to entices us at every corner. If you have a sweet tooth you would have been in heaven because this mar­ket offered you every treat ima­gin­able. From vanilla treats to macar­oons, raw chocol­ate to homemade ice-cream, chocol­ate brownies to lemon curd cup­cakes. The list goes on ... Included in our ticket price was R25 worth of vouch­ers to spend at the mar­ket, mine were gone almost instantly. The event was booked out and there was such a fest­ive atmo­sphere for the entire even­ing. I relived a part of my child­hood by open­ing up my ima­gin­a­tion and remind­ing myself it's ok to have sweet treats as your din­ner once in a while ... Continued

Napier Photographs

Napier is a pretty town sur­roun­ded by fields of bar­ley and wheat and was named after the Governor of the Cape at the time; Sir George Napier.  Interesting shops and eat­er­ies line the streets of the town and if you are in town you must make sure you visit The Farm Stall which is loc­ated dir­ectly through the town.  The interior is a quirky col­lec­tion of enamel signs (unfor­tu­nately not for sale) and other mem­or­ab­ilia.  Other inter­est­ing objects hang on the walls out­side – it makes for inter­est­ing con­ver­sa­tion as you wait for your deli­cious meal to arrive!

As like most of the towns in this area, the Dutch Reformed Church is a migh­tily impress­ive build­ing – look out for its unusual archi­tec­ture and if you visit, admire the teak interior.  Napier hosts the Patatfees (Sweet Potato Festival) in June each year and the route of the Voet van Afrika Marathon goes through the town when it’s held in October.

I’ve been to Napier twice now and always enjoy­ing stop­ping – whether it’s for an overnight stay or just for lunch at The Farm Stall!

Continued

Elim Photographs

Id heard about Elim and see­ing as we were in the area over the week­end we stopped off for a wander around on Sunday.  Elim dates back to 1824 when it was foun­ded by Moravian monks and became the third Moravian mis­sion sta­tion in the Cape.  Today it is one of the few sur­viv­ing mis­sion sta­tions in the coun­try.  Most of the cute, thatched cot­tages date back to the 19^th cen­tury and are made of mud-brick, plastered with lime plaster and thatched with res­tio grass.  Many of the 2000 cur­rent Elim res­id­ents are sought-after thatchers.

Worth vis­it­ing is the water­mill which is still work­ing after being built in 1824!  The same is to be said for the church clock – it’s been count­ing time since 1824 and is the old­est work­ing clock in the coun­try.  I can vouch for the clock; it struck 1pm when I was there! Elim proudly has South Africa’s only memorial to the eman­cip­a­tion of slaves.

Elim is an import­ant part of the wine pro­du­cing industry with four pro­du­cing part­ners: Black Oystercatcher, the Berrio, Zoetendal and First Sighting cre­at­ing Elim Winegrowers, a self-sustaining farm­ing com­munity.  The fruit pro­duced in Elim is slightly dif­fer­ent to other fruit; the cool south west and south east winds restrict upward growth which means that the vine pro­duces a con­cen­trated fruit.

Continued

L'Agulhas Photographs

The rel­at­ively small vil­lage of L’Agulhas is situ­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape, a mere two hour drive from Cape Town and is fam­ously known as the place where the two oceans; the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet.  Discovered in the 15^th cen­tury by the Portuguese, Agulhas was ori­gin­ally known as Cabo das Agulhas (Cape of Needles) because no vari­ation between true north and mag­netic north was shown on compasses.

Many ships have ended their sea-going jour­ney on the jagged rock form­a­tions found along this coast­line; hence the con­struc­tion of the Cape Agulhas Lighthouse which was built in 1840 (the 3^rd to be built in South Africa).  The fam­ous red and white build­ing was restored in 1968 and after being declared unsafe is now a National Monument.  The light­house is open to vis­it­ors and has an inter­est­ing museum and a quaint cof­fee shop should you need light refreshment!

The area has many walk­ing and hik­ing trails; per­haps try a walk along the sandy beaches all the way to Struisbaai?

Continued

Elgin Open Gardens Photographs

We spent the night in Elgin on Saturday and on the way home used the oppor­tun­ity to pop into one of the open gar­dens.  For those who don’t know, gar­dens are opened to the pub­lic every year (this year over the week­ends of October 29^th and 30^th and November 5^th and 6^th) in the Elgin, Vyeboom and Bot River Districts.  The gar­dens range from coun­try gar­dens that are well estab­lished (some are over 50 years old) to smal­ler gar­dens in vil­lages that have been recently planted but most are no more than a sixty minute drive from Cape Town and are so worth vis­it­ing. Many gar­dens have plants for sale and also offer tea and light meals.  There are also art and sculp­ture events on in the dis­trict and some local wine cel­lars are offer­ing tastings.

There are five dif­fer­ent routes.  Route 1 incor­por­ates Grabouw and its environs, Route 2 is the Viljoenshoop Road, Route 3 cov­ers the Highlands and Valley Road while Route 4 involves Villersdorp Road and Vyeboom and finally Route 5 looks after Houw Hoek and Bot River.  The dif­fer­ent farms and prop­er­ties are loc­ated along the vari­ous routes so you just need to decide on your route of choice and fol­low the map!

We vis­ited Boesmansrug which was part of Route 4. The gar­dens incor­por­ated rose and herb gar­dens, a secret garden, gor­geous green pas­tures and majestic oaks.  Plants and tea were on sale and money went to the chosen char­ity which was Kirstenbosch Environmental Education. Although some of the gar­dens offer free entry, some charge an entry fee of between R5 to R20 (entry to Oak Valley is R50 but pre-booking is essen­tial) so make sure you have cash on you.

It really is a lovely day out – I wish we’d planned the day bet­ter and spent more time vis­it­ing more gar­dens.  Continued

Arniston Photographs

This pic­tur­esque little fish­ing vil­lage on the shores of Marcus Bay is also known as Waenhuiskrans (‘wagon shel­ter cliff’).  The name comes from a large sea-cave, which although only vis­ible dur­ing low-tide resembles the struc­tures used by set­tlers to house their wag­ons and cattle.  The vil­lage itself got the name ‘Arniston’ from the Arniston ship which wrecked off the in 1815.  After cut­ting away three of its anchors the ves­sel ran ashore and broke up on the sharp rocks off the Arniston Reef.  Sadly, only six of the 378 pas­sen­gers sur­vived to tell the tale.

Arniston how­ever is a pretty vil­lage, with spark­ling blue water and gor­geous beaches, per­fect for laz­ing away sunny sum­mer days.  Artists and pho­to­graph­ers are attrac­ted to the sea­side loc­a­tion; the white-washed cot­tages, rolling sand dunes, steep cliffs and blue ocean make for pic­ture per­fect pho­to­graphs and paint­ings!  The cot­tages are Kassiebaai are more than 200 years old and are a National Monument.

De Hoop and De Mond Nature Reserves neigh­bour Arniston; a bird watcher and hikers delight.

Continued

Struisbaai Photographs

Although a bit windy on the day we vis­ited Struisbaai and not being dur­ing ‘sea­son’ just yet we could still get a vibe for this pretty sea­side town loc­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape.  Colourful fish­ing boats bobbed in the har­bour and chil­dren swam and boogie-boarded in the waves (don’t chil­dren ever feel the cold?!). A board­walk through part of the dunes makes for easy walk­ing and the views of the beaches are worth see­ing – whether it’s windy or not!

During the sum­mer months Struisbaai enjoys a healthy amount of vis­it­ors who come to the town to enjoy the water sports on offer.  It’s easy to launch a kayak or small boat from the beach while kite-surfing and board­ing are also pop­u­lar.  Struisbaai, like many of the coastal vil­lages in this region boasts quaint white-washed fishermen’s houses and newer houses must fol­low the design of the ori­ginal cot­tages.  If in the town make sure you visit the Anglican church which is now a National Monument. Continued

Bredasdorp Photographs

We had the oppor­tun­ity to visit the town of Bredasdorp when we took part in the Voet van Afrika Marathon this past week­end.  The town is situ­ated in the Cape Agulhas region of the Western Cape and claims to be the first town or dorp to be estab­lished in South Africa.  Apart from being a big pro­du­cer of wheat and pro­tea flowers, Bredasdorp is also well known for hav­ing South Africa’s only Shipwreck Museum (which was sadly closed on this week­end).  The museum has an extens­ive col­lec­tion of arte­facts from ships wrecked along this coast­line … one can see can­nons, coins, chinaware and ship bells.  One of the rooms at the museum is a trib­ute to Audrey Blignaut, a South African author born in Bredasdorp.

The wheat fields that sur­round the town attract many dif­fer­ent birds; we were lucky enough to see 13 Blue Cranes in one field alone and although not avid birders ticked off our first ‘lifer’; a Cape Teal duck mer­rily pad­dling around a farm pond! Hueningberg Nature Reserve is a must if you enjoy the great out­doors – there are lots of walks avail­able.  Bredasdorp and the area around it is a won­der­ful place to visit and at just over two hours from Cape Town, it’s the per­fect dis­tance for a week­end get­away. Continued

A Wild Ride at Ratanga Junction — Photographs

I have to admit, I haven't been to Ratanga Junction in years — I remem­ber when I was at school it was all the rage to spend as many week­ends as pos­sible at Ratanga. Going on every ride until we were deli­ri­ous with adren­aline and excite­ment. So when a friend sug­ges­ted this for her birth­day I jumped at the chance.

Off we headed to Century City to get there when the gates opened at 10h00. Since the park is only open dur­ing school hol­i­days and this was the first Saturday of the hol­i­days we expec­ted a fair num­ber of people, how­ever the queue was snaked around the entrance with eager people of all ages ready to have a day of fun.

I was happy to see the park so full and to top it off the staff were some of the most friendly and help­ful I have encountered in a long time. We had a day filled with laughter and screams on the rides. It was an exhilir­at­ing day and I will most cer­tainly be back. This is a fun filled day for all mem­bers of your fam­ily. Continued

Stanford Photographs

Stanford is a quaint, sleepy vil­lage that is found on the other side of Hermanus in the Cape Overberg.  Sheltered by the Klein River Mountains it’s a peace­ful vil­lage that has a healthy mix of art gal­ler­ies, antique and second hand shops, res­taur­ants, side­walk cafes and pubs.  Originally a farm, de Kleine Riveirs Valey and the his­tor­ical build­ings on tree-lined streets are ref­er­ence to the English influ­ence on the vil­lage and why its now the third most his­tor­ic­ally import­ant vil­lage in the Western Cape.

If vis­it­ing Stanford a must see is the Birkenhead Brewery which is a boutique brew­ery open for beer tast­ing and lunches and the Stanford Walking Trail which meanders its way along the Klein River, through the town and offers walk­ers great bird­ing oppor­tun­it­ies, includ­ing sight­ing the endangered Blue Crane.

Stanford is a won­der­ful week­end venue; per­fect to take in the sights or just as per­fect to laze around the garden and do noth­ing! Continued

Bay Harbour Market — Photographs

I’m a big fan of a mar­ket so ima­gine my sheer joy when we walked into the Bay Harbour Market in Hout Bay!  It seemed to be a case of ‘the early bird catches the worm’ because on arriv­ing at around 9.30am we man­aged to walk around eas­ily, found a table to sit at and didn’t have to wait in to long a queue to order our deli­cious break­fast and per­fectly made creamy cappuccino.

I was so impressed with this mar­ket; it’s been open for about six weeks and in that short space of time has become very pop­u­lar.  There are over 100 stalls which have a healthy mix of food, art, cloth­ing, craft, décor and fash­ion.  I loved the beau­ti­ful cush­ions, nap­kins and aprons Melanie of Quiver Design had on show and the ceram­ics Noleen Read pro­duces are def­in­itely on my Christmas list.  The food all looked abso­lutely deli­cious and the only thing to do is to make the mar­ket a reg­u­lar week­end stop to try all the pro­duce offered.

The mar­ket is open 10am – 5pm on Saturdays, 10am – 4pm on Sundays and from September 9^th will also open from 4pm – 9pm on a Friday. There is ample, secure park­ing avail­able. Continued

Spring in the Western Cape in photographs

We were sent some really beau­ti­ful pho­to­graphs which were taken near Philadelphia in the Western Cape which got us all excited about Spring. It's a won­der­ful time of year — Join us in cel­eb­rat­ing the immin­ent arrival of Spring here in South Africa.

"I love this time of year and the rural fields are full of the new wheat and oats and the gush of bright yel­low can­ola. The farm anim­als and birds take pleas­ure in the warm days too. What a won­der this is …
Enjoy my part of the world"!" ~ Barbara Continued

A Seafood Extravaganza at Strandloper — Photographs

A friend decided to have his birth­day at the Strandloper Seafood Restaurant in Langebaan and it was a scorcher of a day. We all arrived with plenty of sun­tan lotion, hats and cooler boxes filled with drinks and ice (def­in­itely recom­men­ded when its hot). Booking is essen­tial and since we were a large group we were given a big space under plenty of shade cloth.

Lunch con­sisted of too many courses to remem­ber, start the day off with the most spec­tac­u­lar homemade bread and but­ter — I could have quite hon­estly munched through an entire loaf myself, mus­sels done in gar­lic, fol­lowed by braaied fish, sea­food paella and so much more. I think at this point I was in a food coma, but I woke up swiftly when I heard the kreef (cray­fish) was ready. All of the food is cooked in front of you on the fires in the centre of the beach res­taur­ant. Next time you're in Langebaan book your spot at the Strandloper ... Continued

Zinkwazi Photographs

Zinkwazi is prob­ably one of my most favour­ite places in South Africa.  A small sea­side vil­lage on the Dolphin Coast of KwaZulu Natal, it hasn’t changed much since we star­ted vis­it­ing it thirty odd years ago.  In fact the only growth is Prouds Pizza on the beach and the Magohany Reef beach bar – and this is just the way I like it!  I’m lucky enough to have fam­ily that now resides per­man­ently at Zinkwazi so the vis­its continue.

Zinkwazi has beau­ti­ful beaches with the main beach equipped with shark nets and life­guards mak­ing safe swim­ming pos­sible.  One of the focal points of the vil­lage is the 7 kilo­metre long lagoon that meanders its way through sugar cane fields and offers spec­tac­u­lar bird­ing.  Some 600 spe­cies have been recor­ded put­ting Zinkwazi firmly on the Zululand Birding Route.

Although hot and humid dur­ing the sum­mer months, Zinkwazi in the winter is a pleas­ure.  The days are nor­mally warm and sunny and although slightly chil­lier than nor­mal, a swim in the sea can be achieved!  Continued