Weltevreden Estate is one of the original Stellenbosch homesteads, having been awarded by Simon van der Stel, governor of the Cape to a German, Hans Henske, back in 1692. These days the beautifully restored Cape Dutch homestead and grounds stand as a National Monument (1975) and are well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. The estate features a beautiful outdoor restaurant in the form of Lekka Neh, but for our purposes we were more interested at stopping in at The Carnival, a kids-centric play and eating area that is designed to be an absolute must for visitors if you have your small kids in tow!
Walking about Weltevreden is a treat for the senses, thanks to the pristine buildings, abundance of art and whimsical sculptures that are tucked away in all corners of the estate.
(Though of course, once the girls spotted the jungle gyms peeking out above the carnival themed buildings, it was over for us, as we were dragged into The Carnival and play time commenced!)
The Carnival is well suited to kids’ needs, with an abundance of big jungle gyms, a trampoline house, push bike tracks, a sand pit, rocking horses, etc.
Lots of kids options like pizza, slushies, ice cream is on offer, and so it is no wonder that you can end up spending a fair bit of time here if you aren’t watching the clock!
For some or other reason on the day though, the service was pretty bad (almost non-existent), so neither Chantelle nor I left particularly happy (also, I don’t expect coffee in a takeaway cup!), but this didn’t faze the girls one bit, as they happily chased up and down pretty much anything and everything that could be clambered about on!
Oh, and Jessica rather enjoyed catching a ladybird – to which she became rather attached!
Bad service aside (which according to my sister, who rather enjoys this venue, isn’t the norm), I loved the setup and can definitely see us making more than a few more turns here in the near future!
Related Link: Weltevreden Estate