A friend of mine has made a tradition of going away somewhere for her birthday. This year the town of choice was Franschhoek and yahoo, lucky us, we cracked the nod for the (as Bridget Jones would say) mini break away!
Our accommodation in Franschhoek was Pear Cottage at Bo La Motte Farm. The farm is situated at the base of the Middagkrans Mountains and is one of the nine Huguenot farms settled in 1672. We arrived just after 2pm on Saturday afternoon and settled into our home for the night – the cottages are beautiful with stone floors, fireplaces and completely equipped for a self catering stay (not that one needs that in the gastronomic town of Franschhoek!).
As Bo La Motte is a ten minute stroll from the centre of town my husband and I left the car parked in the shade and walked – it was a beautiful autumn day and with scenery that gorgeous (and snow capped mountains) why would one not want to get some fresh air and exercise?
We ambled down the main street and found somewhere to have a late lunch of rump steak and vegetables washed down with a glass of vino.
We had then planned on going back to Pear Cottage for an hour before finding a bustling pub to watch the Super 14 final but on our return the late afternoon mountain views from the verandah and the chilled bottle of Colmant champagne in the fridge got the better of us and we just sat ourselves down and relaxed!
The cottage is also equipped with DSTV so we watched the game from the comfort of the couch with a fire dancing in the fireplace!
After a leisurely Sunday morning spent eating croissants we took ourselves off for a walk to the Huguenot Memorial and around the town before stopping off for lunch at The Bistro.
I just love Franschhoek – even though the door to door drive from Cape Towns Southern Suburbs is only just over an hour once off the N1 you really feel like you are in another world. The pace of life slows and everyone seems that little bit more friendly!
What a wonderful 24 hours – we felt like we had been away for a week. Roll on July 16th so we can go back for Bastille Day weekend!
