It was dark and pouring rain when we arrived at Babylonstoren, our hotel in the winelands of the Western Cape. But, I was instantly in love as we were led to our immaculately decorated, whitewashed Dutch style cottage. A crate sat on the table filled with freshly picked carrots, guava, lemons, oranges, and more – right next to a selection of tapas. Within 60 seconds, Nigel was lighting our fire and Patricia arrived with a teapot of spiked hot chocolate.
It was our anniversary night, so we toasted and danced by the fire to our wedding song. I was in heaven and I hadn’t even seen any of the property yet.
But when I awoke, this is what I saw.
“The Babylonstoren garden is at the heart of the farm. Spanning eight acres, every one of over 300 varieties of plants in the garden is edible and it is grown as biologically as we can. Fruit and veg are harvested year round for use in our restaurant. The garden is divided into fifteen clusters spanning vegetable areas, berries, bees, indigenous plants, ducks and chickens and includes a prickly pear maze.”
And the food… oh, the food…
And reluctantly we ventured off the property and the rest of Franschhoek is as stunning on its own.
Ok, I could go on and on.. but I’ll save a few surprises for when you venture to this town yourself. But if you really must (because I really must!), check out my Facebook page for a look inside the cottages.
And we haven’t even gotten to Cape Town yet… next week!
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