My brother and I recently spent a Sunday night in the tiny Karoo town of Loxton. I’d done a bit of reading and vaguely remembered that nothing was open from Saturday lunch time to Monday morning (thank goodness we’d stopped in Senekal for lamb chops) but how right I was; absolutely nothing was open for those 18 hours – it was so quiet that it was actually eerie.
Apart from the beautiful church there doesn’t appear to be much in this pretty, well kept, neat town (our walk around didn’t present us with a hive of activity!) but there is a gorgeous coffee shop called The Rooi Granaat in Loxton. I peeked through the window and declared to Gareth that we would be partaking of a coffee here on Monday morning.
Monday morning dawned and we were packed and ready for our coffee when the shop opened at 9am. Parisian cafe music greeted us as we entered the fairly large space complete with tables decked in red chequered table clothes.
Magazines were stacked in the centre of the table – perfect for sipping coffee and browsing through the latest edition of Sarie. My favourite feature of the shop was the bright red wall behind the counter; it added that little bit extra and was tres French I thought!
Rows of shelves displayed boereseep (‘for use on all types of stains’), ‘informal napkins’ made from cheap dishtowels, beautiful cotton table cloths, boiled sweets and Chappie chewing gums in clear cellophane bags tied with bright ribbons.
The Bodum of Cattacurra coffee arrived and it was just what we were after. I love a good cup of coffee and Loxton certainly served up a perfect brew – after all, there can be nothing better than starting the week sipping on a Cattucurra while humming along to the tunes of a French cafe.
After all, when we asked Wilma of The Rooi Granaat what there was to do in Loxton, she said ‘niks, net rus en eet’. Mmmm indeed!
Loxton Links
