First, a word of warning, this is definitely not budget friendly accommodation; but it was definitely worth it nonetheless.
To be quite honest, I’ve been stalking the Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse website for years now and just trying to save the money and actually try to talk myself into spoiling myself and not others for a change. 2018, has totally been the year for that. I finally thought to myself ‘what am I saving money for’ and the question was nothing. It’s not like I want to buy a house right now, or have kids at this present moment like everyone else I know. I don’t even want to save for a big wedding, because I’d rather just elope and use the money for travel.
So finally, that is exactly what I’m doing. I’m writing down all the places that I’ve always wanted to stay (mainly in South Africa, but some overseas) and I’m slowly but surely working my way through that list. If you’ve ever watched “Parks and Recreation”, you will know about Donna and Tom who every year have one day where you ‘Treat Yo-self’. Well, instead of just doing one day a year, I’m thinking I’ll just do it whenever I want/need to.
Anyways, back to Cleopatra. It was epic! I honestly don’t say this about a lot of properties I’ve stayed at, but I truly felt like I’d hit the jackpot with this one. Luch and I stayed in the self catering River Run Cottage which is just 1km up the road from the main property. Mainly I booked the self catering because it was pretty much half the price of the main lodge, but we also really love self catering. It gives you so many more options and I don’t really like the guest house feel, when there are people on either side of you. I prefer my own space.
The cottage itself had three en-suite bedrooms (sleeping 4 adults and 4 children in total). Luckily we were travelling alone, so we had the entire place to ourselves. At R2500 per night for the 2 of us; instead of R2500 – R2900 per person per night (including breakfast and dinner) at the main farmhouse, we thought it was totally worth it. When I originally told Luch how much it cost, he wasn’t too keen, because R2500 a night is still quite expensive where we come from; but after spending the afternoon watching the sun go down on the outside sun lounger chairs with a cider in hand he admitted that “You really know how to pick awesome accommodation Jen”.
Besides the massive wrought iron bed which I always love, the lounge was incredibly cosy with a huge fireplace and enough wood to last all weekend. If we were inclined to eat around a dining room table, we definitely would have done it at this cottage. The kitchen was stocked with so many things. I couldn’t even believe my eyes. We’ve stayed at self catering places before that don’t even have a sharp knife, but this one had everything you would ever need to make a 6 course meal and bake a 1000 cupcakes. I assume it is because one of the owners is also a chef.
Still, my favourite part of the entire cottage was actually the boma area outside. It had a huge firepit that got cleaned out and stocked with wood every night and there was a weber braai ready for us to use. Also loved the fact that there was an entire cupboard dedicated to camp chairs and pillows for the outside seating areas. We literally lit a huge bonfire every night and drank some wine/port around it.
We decided to go for a hike on the Saturday, as we had driven up this road that was more potholes than anything else (apparently it is part of the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve) the night before to see the sunset from the top of the mountain. We had been told on check in that there is a lovely place to park your car at the top of the mountain and you just walk for a bit to see the view. As it turns out, it wasn’t just stop your car and walk. There were lots of different hikes and you have to pay R40 pp to hike them (we found this out the next day as on the first night no one was there).
Since we didn’t have cash on us, Luch literally asked our accommodation to swipe R100 on his card and give it back to him in cash. It worked. We were told that the hike was 2 hours there and 2 hours back, but that it was only 4 km. We hiked for 2 hours and still saw nothing that resembled a cave (the hike was specifically called something cave), so we turned back and headed home. We never like to hike when it starts to get too late in the afternoon, especially when there is no cell reception. Nevermind that, but we were also starving, so we came back to our cottage and ate some lunch.
That night we had already decided to have dinner in the main farmhouse which was a 6 course affair and every part of it was delicious. I wish I could remember all the magical things we ate, but the best part was going down into the wine cellar beforehand to pick our bottle of wine for the night. That and getting to hear from Richard (the chef and one of the owners) about what he was making for dinner and also a bit of history relating to Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse.
From when we arrived on the Friday afternoon, we were greeted with a heated wet cloth for our hands and a welcome drink, to getting shown around the cottage, seeing the river flowing past and sunset over the mountains; being spoiled by all of the staff and eating the most amazing food. Nothing on this weekend disappointed me. I will definitely tell everyone about it and will go back again (once I’ve saved some more money of course) 🙂
First, a word of warning, this is definitely not budget friendly accommodation; but it was definitely worth it nonetheless.