Whoops, somehow it’s taken a while for this particular post to get out of my Drafts box, but I thought it better late than never to give you a little rundown of the fabulous weekend Chantelle, Jessie and I enjoyed a couple of weekends ago, over the Youth Day long weekend.
Chantelle did a little Internet research and came up with the Rico Suter Country House, a working wine estate nestled at the foot of the Waaihoek mountain range in the Worcester/Slanghoek area. Now it’s a little more expensive that what I’m usually comfortably paying for in terms of accommodation, but Chantelle told me to just shut my eyes and let her handle that part of the bill, meaning that come Saturday morning, we were packed and on our way through the Huguenot Tunnel and on to Worcester.
Of course, Jessica chose to stay awake for the whole trip, only falling asleep literally ten minutes away from our destination, which I have to say, we found surprisingly easily enough! We were welcomed by Bruno Suter, an extremely likable and welcoming man, together with the farm’s two resident dogs, the elderly sheepdog Bonnie and the exuberant and youthful ridgeback, Pumba.
Of course, Jessica wasn’t particularly comfortable around the excitable Pumba, but that said, even though he wasn’t allowed to get too close to her, she couldn’t bare it if he wasn’t nearby, especially on our walks!
The top floor of the modern farm house serves as the guest accommodation and you are welcomed into a spacious open plan rectangular living area/kitchen combo, with a storage lined passage that opens up into a luxurious bedroom with en-suite bathroom. The entire mountain facing side of the house is lined with huge glass doors, meaning that you get the maximum in terms of view, both of the beautiful surrounding as well as the working vineyards themselves. And with snow still heavily sprinkled over the mountain tops, the scenery was pretty damn exquisite it must be said!
Although the vines are all withered and bare at the moment, this didn’t stop Chantelle, Jessica, Pumba and I heading out for many a stroll, though as luck would have it, the majority of these all ended with Jess in tears, what with her successfully falling bottom first into a large puddle on the first outing, dropping her banana in the mud on the second, and just simply falling face first into the first bit of gravel she encountered at the winery on the third!
Sigh.
Not that these put her off enjoying her weekend mind you – she was in full force the whole time, practicing her counting and rearranging the house’s pillows to her heart’s content! :)
Over the course of the weekend we took a drive through to Worcester, visiting at the mall and stopping in at the open air museum Kleinplasie, a place where both Chantelle and I had visited as children. Unfortunately, we chose to go on a day (Father’s Day Sunday) over which the place is pretty much shut down, meaning that other than the museum exhibits and the animals roaming around, there wasn’t all that much to take in compared to the historic re-enactments that normally would be on show.
Pity.
We lunched at a fantastic eatery under the trees, The Dam Fine Cafe, situated right next to another old holiday stomping ground from my youth, Goudini Spa, and partook in a lazy afternoon drive through the gorgeous Slanghoek valley, crossing over a particularly swollen river in the process!
(As you can see, Chantelle simply had to get out and take some snaps!)
A little bit of television and DVDs in the evenings, with a roaring fire warming up the house thanks to a homely little fireplace in the living area, the end result of it all being a fantastic weekend of pure getaway, restful, scenic and oh so relaxing.
And now that we’ve been here in winter, it’s almost a given that we need to return in summer – after all, who doesn’t want to see the wine making process up close and personal on this welcoming and idyllic working wine estate!
Without a doubt, the Rico Suter Country House is certainly one of those getaway spots that one can highly recommend if you are looking to escape the confines of city life for a bit! :)
For more pictures from our weekend away, check out the photo gallery!