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

Stanford — things to do for a perfect country weekend

Stanford

If you haven't vis­ited Stanford, then make a date, as it's one little coun­try town that's become a firm favour­ite with vis­it­ors to the Overberg. The town centres around Market Square, known to loc­als as the vil­lage green, where monthly mar­kets are held.

It is full of his­tory, and so alive with things to do that you'll have to work hard at main­tain­ing a bal­ance between time out and explor­ing. But if you do noth­ing else,  aban­don your car at one of many places to stay in the vil­lage and do the his­tor­ical walk on foot – a walk through the old part of the vil­lage past no less than 58 homes of his­tor­ical interest and value, all lov­ingly restored and lived in ... Continued

Stanford Valley — time out in the company of mountains

Stanford Valley

Stanford as far as the crow flies is not far from Cape Town. But there can be the odd occa­sion when, by the time you reach there, after hav­ing battled the numer­ous sets of lights through Somerset West, you feel slightly as though you've been through a man­gler. Which is even more reason why, in the shadow of the Akkedisberg Mountains in a val­ley through which the Klein River flows, a stay in Stanford Valley can feel a little like com­ing home.

The Overberg is quite the most beau­ti­ful part of the Western Cape. With its rolling wheat fields, sheep and beef farms, gor­geous moun­tains, sea­side and river­side vil­lages, and swathes of sump­tu­ous scenery, one is eas­ily enrap­tured. Stanford Valley, des­pite sound­ing like a val­ley in which the town of Stanford lies, is infact a beau­ti­ful organic farm, which also offers a guest farm and retreat centre, roughly 10 kilo­metres out­side of Stanford on the R320. It's pos­i­tion is breath­tak­ing and the mostly restored build­ings and out­build­ings incred­ibly pretty. Continued

Slow food comes to Stanford

Graze

Stanford already has its requis­ite vil­lage mar­ket on the green, held on the last Friday even­ing of the month. During sum­mer, I believe, it's a great place to be. The town is no new­comer to good, local food either and both Marianas and Madré's Kitchen are well sup­por­ted by loc­als and Capetonians, who if the influx of 4x4s is any­thing to go by, make no bones about using Stanford as their reg­u­lar week­end and hol­i­day base.

It's a beau­ti­ful town, is Stanford. It's got everything you could pos­sibly hope for in an Overberg vil­lage – gor­geous his­tor­ical and restored build­ings that the local her­it­age com­mit­tee have not only indi­vidu­ally numbered, but have also included in an Histor­ical Stanford on foot, which you can pick up at the local tour­ism info (just across the road from the Stanford Trading Store). Continued

Jolly up the Klein River on the African Queen

On the African Queen

We spent part of this past week­end in Hermanus for a friend’s birth­day and on Saturday after­noon found ourselves on the way to Stanford for a jolly up the Klein River on the African Queen!

The African Queen is a double decker boat and was first launched nearly ten years ago.  The lower deck fea­tures braai facil­it­ies, wooden tables and seats up to 16 people.  The upper deck is equipped with plastic fur­niture, seats up to 24 people and has an area of shade ... Continued

A Long Weekend in Stanford

"It is only in the coun­try that we can get to know a per­son or a book" — Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave, 1945

Described as the place that time for­got, Stanford vil­lage in the Overberg, is only one and a half hours from Cape Town, yet is worlds away. Its dusty roads and weathered his­tor­ical cot­tages seen from the high road on the way to some place else, are only a mis­lead­ing facade, for this quaint vil­lage evokes the poet in every weary man's heart and stills the roaming.

Stanford

Floating slowly down the river on a sum­mers after­noon, you'll real­ise why the lan­guish­ing coun­try bug is so catchy, that most week­end vis­it­ors to the small town end up leav­ing own­ing a piece of real estate.

In Stanford, after­noon teas are a treas­ured daily med­it­a­tion and books are still favoured to tele­vi­sion, walk­ing is a daily activ­ity and bicyles are the favoured means of trans­port­a­tion. With beau­ti­ful scenes around every corner, Stanford is cer­tainly one of the most aes­thet­ic­ally pleas­ing towns in the Western Cape region and world class coun­try res­taur­ants and antique stores draw people from Cape Town through to the interior. Continued