Hawksmoor House
Garden Route & Winelands, South Africa
Style Cape Dutch country house
Setting Matjieskuil Farm winelands estate
This unique guesthouse stay allows you a nostalgic glimpse into South Africa’s vintage winelands world: lingering breakfasts on the verandah, vineyard walks, sundowners on the stoop and indulgent dinners in an 18th-century dining room. All this bewitchingly unpolished perfection is just 30 minutes from Cape Town, and Hawksmoor House is ideally placed for exploring the winelands – starting with nearby Stellenbosch.
Need to know
- Rooms 14, five in the manor house and nine garden cottages.
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Rates
Double rooms from AU$141.95 (ZAR1,316), excluding tax at 14 per cent.
The price shown represents the lowest nightly rate for a double room available at this hotel over the next 21 days. Any price conversions from the hotel's local currency (ZAR1,316) have been conducted using today's exchange rates from xe.com.
- More details Rates include breakfast and afternoon tea.
- Facilities Gardens, vineyards, swimming pool, library, iPod docks, WiFi, massages on request. In rooms: iPod dock, underfloor heating in bathrooms.
- Poolside The unheated outdoor pool is set discreetly away from the house, fringed with canvas umbrellas and padded sunloungers – all with views of Table Mountain in the distance, and ostriches just beyond the fence.
- Check-out 10.30am. Earliest check-in is 3pm; latest, 6pm.
- Children This is more of an adult retreat, but under-twos and over-12s are welcome; an extra bed can be added to rooms for R375 a night (cots are free), and babysitting can be arranged for R150 an hour.
- Also There are plans for a spa in the near future.
Food and drink at Hawksmoor House
- Hotel restaurant There's no dinner served, but you can order a cheese platter for two(R200). Or indulge culinary whims on the Aga, after an enjoyable rummage through the kitchen garden.
- Dress code So laid-back, you can kick about in your pyjamas all day if you like. You might want to put some actual clothes on for dinner, though.
- Top table Evening meals are taken together in the dramatic, chandelier-hung dining room at an antique 18-seater table – to use the term ‘communal dining’ is almost criminal though, given its extraordinary length.
- Last orders The fridge and drinks cabinet are yours to raid whatever the hour (on an honesty basis).
- Room service Hawksmoor House is manned by staff during the day, who can sort out drinks or tea for you. Afternoon tea is served every day.
- Hotel bar The honesty bar in the pretty darwing room across the hall. Pick out one of the Hawksmoor estate’s own wines, or a sparkling wine from the neighbouring Villiera vineyard and settle into a velvet armchair.
Hawksmoor House Matjieskuil Farm , R304, Klipheuwel Road, Stellenbosch, Garden Route & Winelands, 7607
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Smith extra at Hawksmoor House
A bottle of Hawksmoor estate wine, either pinotage or chenin blanc
In the know
Our favourite rooms
It is not possible to request a specific room at the hotel, but each of the five rooms in the main house is uniquely inviting, and decorated with exquisite antiques and the new rooms enjoy privacy away from the main building and lovely rural views. In the main house, the bright and airy White Room is the largest, a small suite with an extra single bedroom, a dressing room and a private terrace. The bathroom has a huge oval bath tub. It’s also the cosiest in winter, with carpets and a fireplace. The big Green Room has a four-poster bed, a walk-in shower, and is flooded with light in the morning. The Brown Room is small but sexy, with a marble-floored bathroom and free-standing tub. The Blue Room is spacious, with a four-poster and lovely views across the long pond to the farm beyond. The bathroom has a shower only. There are breathtaking views of the Stellenbosch and Table mountain for the new garden cottages.
Packing tips
Don’t forget your camera – the sunsets are spectacular, and you’re sharing the farm with some interesting inhabitants, including pelicans, porcupines and owls. Make sure you bring an appetite for food and wine.
Also
This is a warm-hearted, romantic and homely working farm, so if you want to be waited on hand and foot by meek, uniformed staff, expect slick five-star gloss or don’t like dogs, this is not for you.
From the Guestbook…
My wife and I and our nine-month-old son enjoyed four fantastic nights at Hawksmoor House. It's a charming place and very relaxing. The main house, including the bedrooms, is beaut...
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