Babylonstoren

Having lived in this area for five years, I had the fabulous experience of visiting Babylonstoren for the first time the other day. I am still in awe when I think of the first time I walked those gardens and sat down to a beautiful brunch in The Green House. It has this "wow-factor" that is hard to put into words, one have to experience it for oneself. Really!

Babylonstoren is situated in the Drakenstein Valley between Franschhoek and Paarl, in the heart of the Cape Winelands.  There are many activities to keep you busy all day long, which includes The Garden, wine tasting, hiking up the koppie, bird watching, photographing every square inch of this beautiful property and of course, EATING....

I cannot insist enough the importance of experiencing this place for yourself; once you've been there, you'll know what I mean. Like my friend said; "it looks like they employed someone to go around all day, merchandising and decorating". It is just FABULOUS!

At Babel  

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The Garden

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You can view more pictures from others that visited this amazing place on gramfeed. Then head on over to my favourite local blogger Vasgevang, to see his posts about Babylonstoren, here, here and here.

And now for some pics of my own.....

Even the taps are beautiful... hehe..

Happy weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! I haven't forgotten! As a rule we don't celebrate this day, but the Cheetah insisted on buying roses for all the girls in his grade; so he'll play the Casanova today!

On a different note but still to do with the Day of Love; I'd like to share Franschhoek's "best kept secret". If you haven't been there yet, do yourself a favour, please!

Le Chocolatier is a chocolate factory in the beautiful village of Franschhoek in the Western Cape. Swiss trained chefs create the most beautiful and sinfully delicious chocolates made with the finest Swiss chocolate. My favourite? Chilli chocolates, of course!

all images courtesy of Le Chocolatier

Deliciousness at it's best, that's guaranteed! If you haven't bought that gift for your special someone yet, it's not too late. Get to Le Chocolatier for that extra special surprise.


Happy Valentine's Day!

School athletics

It was a beautiful summers' day in Stellenbosch when our Cheetah had some events to compete in at the Inter-School Athletics in Stellenbosch. He did long-jump and 200m sprint and did very well - I am so proud of him!

Next week he goes to Cape Town for another athletics meeting and we're keeping fingers crossed for another beautiful day.

Happy day folks!

Horseback riding in the vineyards

So, I gave The Captain a voucher for his birthday a few months ago, to go horseback riding in the vineyards of Stellenbosch and we took the opportunity of beautiful weather on Friday, to do just that. It was fantastic - although my behind is not used to being rocked around in a saddle any-more...

We did our ride with the Equine Sport Centre which has stables on the very well known Delvera Wine Estate.

Cheetah was a champ and loved every minute of it!

I had so much fun, they'll see me again and again....

No, The Captain didn't ride this little guy.....

.....beautiful Troy was "his horse".

The beautiful Delvera scenery.

So, if you're ever in the Winelands area or Stellenbosch, visit the Equine Sport Centre for a vineyard ride and wine-tasting afterwards. You'll love it!!

Happy day!