Booking a last minute trip anywhere has always been a dream of mine and not something I’ve ever done, until two weeks ago. I just decided on a Friday morning while sitting staring at my emails that I wanted to spend the weekend in the middle of nowhere just being quiet and enjoying my boyfriends company.
It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. After a Google search of about half an hour, I had narrowed it down to five places in the Magaliesburg (within two hours drive from our house). Stone Hill where I ended up booking was the most reasonably priced and also had the best photos online.
Loving wood cabins and fireplaces as I do, I was drawn to Stone Hill. We prefer self catering, so I was glad to see that they had a great kitchen space and outdoor braai area where we could just chill while our meat was cooking with a glass of wine and sunset in tow.
It was such a surprise to be given a little bottle of sherry to welcome us to our accommodation and the owners Mark and Caroline were so friendly and helpful when it came to activities and places to visit in the area.
We actually managed to visit two breweries/restaurants in the area and really enjoyed them both. Blackhorse Brewery we’ve been to before, but it is such a stunning atmosphere to sit outside in what feels like a magical forest with live music (on the weekends) and order a tasting board of 10 different beers with gin and tonics thrown in every now and then. We had some tasty chicken wings as well, just because they looked good.
Our second brewery visit was the following day at the Brahaus am Damm which had a nice outdoor area where we could sit and look at a dam in the distance. We had some German inspired food and both had lemon flavoured beer which tastes way better than it sounds.
We had heard that there were Shetland Ponies that walked in and around the property and I’d brought apples and carrots with especially to spoil them, so we were so excited to see them on our first morning there while cooking breakfast. We literally left our half cooked breakfast, switched off the gas and ran outside to feed them. Who knew little ponies could make so much saliva? They slobbered all over us and it turns out that the more you feed them, the more they want. They chased us all the way home, while Luch filmed the entire thing and called it our “attack of the ponies”.
Stone Hill is actually super pet friendly and everything is actually arranged just for your dogs. Each cabin has a fenced in area for your furry buddies, hiking trails (with many many benches – each with its own story behind it) and even special doggy pools which are usually right next to the human pools.
What had attracted me most to Stone Hill was actually the outdoor shower, although come to think of it, every time I book a place with an outdoor shower it is usually too cold to use it. This time was no exception, but because we’re crazy and never like to miss out on anything, we tried it anyway. I was so cold when I got out that my teeth were chattering. So worth it! 😉
In the end, we got exactly what we wanted out of the stay. A peaceful self catering getaway in the middle of nowhere with a braai every night for dinner and then sitting in front of the fireplace with a cup of coffee until the late evening hours.
