Milkshakes at the Pepper Tree Art Stable in Philadelphia (2019-05-12)

After a lovely mini weekend away to Darling, we took a bit of a detour coming home and ended up in the blink and you will miss it tiny village of Philadelphia, situated just off the N7 about 38 km north of Cape Town. (And yes, it is spelled exactly the same as Rocky Balboa’s home city in Pennsylvania, not to mention all the other same name towns scattered across the USA. Translating to more or less “brotherly love”, it’s a biblical reference in case you were wondering.)

With a history spanning back to 1863, Philadelphia is a small rural town that just so happens to be in possession of a couple of pleasant eateries, a handful of shops, and one or two art galleries lurking around its very few streets. One of these nice little eateries is the Pepper Tree Art Stable & Coffee Shop, taking its name from the impossible to miss, old gnarled pepper trees out in the front of the property.

(Incidentally, the Pepper Tree has now been operating for more than a decade already! I’m not entirely sure how this is the first time that I have ever heard of it.)

Although sitting down for a light lunch on the day would have been rather nice, Chantelle and I had picked our Sunday for this particular visit rather poorly, seeing as it was Mother’s Day and thus fully booked. Nevertheless, they were gracious enough to give us a table for drinks before the lunch rush hour could properly start streaming in.

And so we had milkshakes, marveled at the trees, and inspected all the art – before vowing to come back again as soon as possible.

Thirsts now sated, we next wandered across the road to inspect the incense heavy healing crystals shop (seems popular with visitors), followed by visits to the two decor shops opposite the aptly named Magic Minerals building. And that’s pretty much it for the commercial side of this strangely charming little town then.