Drakensberg Gardens resort - A fun filled family getaway destination

We were invited to stay at Drak Gardens (otherwise known as the Gooderson Drakensberg Gardens Golf & Spa Resort) a short time ago, and all of us can’t wait to go back there again soon. What a wonderful place to take the family, filled with every activity you can imagine, good food (they offer breakfast & dinner buffets) and loads and loads of open space for little ones to explore (and get well & truly worn out & ensure good sleep!).

We spent 2 nights in their family room, and what a treat that was. Hubby and I were blown away by the amount of space in their family rooms, as we were all gearing up to share one room. Sharing one room with a 2 year old and a 9 month isn’t really my idea of fun, but it can be done! But I was so excited to find out we could all have our own space for the weekend. Even though both kids were up at 5am each morning (I am very spoiled with their usual wakeup time of between 6:30 & 7am). This was easy to manage though, as the breakfast buffet opened at 6:30 and it was light at that time anyway, which meant it was easier to get out of bed and haul them both off for a nice walk before heading to the dining room for breakfast.

There was so much to do during the day…an animal area where Everly got to spend some time with the friendly goats, a very sweet & good natured pony that took little ones for a ride twice a day (for free!), and then the highlight for all of us…the swimming pools! As well as lots of slides (Everly is still a little small for them) the main attraction for all of us was the Cove…a heated swimming pool which felt like a bath, and it’s where we spent most of the day. Aaron LOVED the warm pool too, and had a ball splashing around while watching his sister and all the other kids play.

Saturday afternoon we all took a nice long walk to the Adventure Park (past the Putt-Putt…putting that on our list for when the kids are a bit older), past the Zipline & tree top adventure course (which looked AMAZING!!! Again, popping that on our list for when the kids are older) and to the climbing wall, jungle gym & bike zone. We finished off with a treetop stroll through the bird walk, and then headed back (chasing the thunder clouds!) to the heated pool for a last dip before supper & bed.

Both kiddos arrived happy & smiling (thank goodness for both of them napping in the car!) and off we went to check in and get a feel of the place. Our room took ages to be ready (they were doing some last minute renovations…while we were a little frustrated at first, once we saw the room and how much space we would have, we would have waited ALL day if we had to!). There was lots to see and explore while waiting, and all the staff we passed on our way were so friendly and welcoming.

The Family Room

What a lovely family room, perhaps the biggest we have stayed in before. It was basically two bedrooms (each with their own door /entrance to outside) separated by a little passageway with two adjoining bathrooms. One bathroom had a shower, and the other a bath, both had toilets.

The bigger bedroom had a double bed, as well as a fridge (super important for us as I had brought some food items that needed to be kept cold) and a kettle. This was a lifesaver for those early morning wakeups, ensuring Mommy & Daddy could at least get a well deserved cup of coffee at silly o’clock.

Things to do

At check-in, I was given a programme for the resort, which showed all sorts of activities for the whole family. I was most interested in the animal feeding zone and the pony rides, and I wished I had paid more attention to it (I forgot it in the car the whole of he first day!) and we missed out on face painting and rock painting on our last day…but, thankfully Everly was none the wiser.

Even without the scheduled activities, we were able to keep both kiddos happy and busy. And Mom and Dad were both able to have a few quiet seconds to jump in the pool once or twice (each!).

I was also SUPER impressed by the little shop, which was so well stocked! I know that the area is really popular for overnight hikes, and with the self catering accommodation options available at the resort, you really can find all the essentials for your stay.

Everly & Aaron had a ball, and we had such a special family holiday together, with lots of laughs (and only a few tears along the way). I didn’t get a chance to visit the Spa this time, so I’m adding that to my (every growing) list for next time!

Thank you so much to Gooderson Drakensberg Gardens Golf & Spa Resort for having us to stay. We all had a really lovely time, and will definitely be back again soon.

Cathedral Peak Hotel - Family Friendly Getaways in the Drakensburg

A little while ago I was offered a 2 night stay at the beautiful Cathedral Peak Hotel in the Berg. The offer couldn’t have come at a better time, as Farmboy had been hard at work, farming, and we were in desperate need of a family getaway.

We have spent time at Champagne Sports Resort as well as the Drakensburg Sun, but I have only been into the Cathedral Peak Nature Reserve when I was little, and that was to do one of the many beautiful overnight hikes. Although we didn’t get to do much hiking on this trip (having a one year and being 5 months pregnant does tend to slow you down just a bit) the Cathedral Peak Hotel was the perfect place for a family to spend the weekend.

Not only did we stuff ourselves silly at the buffet (seriously, their food was some of the best hotel food I’ve ever eaten!) but their kiddies play area was so well equipped too. Even I enjoyed a good number of jumps on the trampoline (before I realised that jumping on a trampoline while pregnant is probably not the smartest idea...#scrambledeggs haha).

From the moment we stepped into the reception, we were greeted by such warm and welcoming staff who were so helpful during our stay. Nothing was too much trouble, and by the end of our stay Everly has charmed all the staff and genuinely seemed to be sad to say goodbye. If you’re looking for a good family friendly place to spend the weekend, I would definitely recommend adding Cathedral Peak Hotel to the top of your list!

Although this was a sponsored trip, all thoughts and views are my own, and we will definitely be heading back out of our own pocket….Perhaps after our next little one has arrived and we can all enjoy the gorgeous hiking trails (and rock pools!) on offer.

Cathedral Peak Hotel is about a 3 hour drive from Durban, and only about 4.5 hours from Joburg. It’s definitely an easy enough place to get to from either city for the weekend. It took us about 3 hours from the farm, but granted, we live out in the middle of nowhere and everywhere is far for us. You set your GPS for the small but delightful town of Winterton, and then from there the Hotel’s website has really great step by step directions.

Whenever people post reviews of places they’ve stayed before, I’m always far more interested in the photos than I am in their descriptions, so I’m going to let my images speak for me. But the one thing I have to harp on about was the food! Gosh, everything was freshly prepared every day, and we were still able to keep Everly on her Banting/No Sugar or processed carb eating during our stay. In fact, she loved the food so much, I’ve had to replicate some of the meals at home to keep her happy! Luckily the friendly chef was happy to share his ‘secret’ recipes with me after I explained that Everly was thoroughly enjoying his food!

Here are some snaps of the facilities on offer at Cathedral Pea Hotel…

The Rooms

While I didn’t manage to get a photograph of the bed before Everly and hubby made themselves right at home in anticipation of a long nap, I have to talk about how comfy it was! It was also HUGE and meant all three of us could lie in it without disturbing each other. Although, Everly has never been one to sleep in bed with us (she is just too noisy and wriggles about so much that none of us end up getting any sleep), the bed would be big enough for a family of 4 to sleep in comfortably.

We brought our own camp cot as I wasn’t sure if the Hotel would provide one, but sure enough, they had set up the sweetest wooden cot, complete with its own baby pillow and duvet!

The bathroom was big and spacious, with a the most amazing shower. Our little shower at home has the most pathetic pressure, and we only have about 5 little holes int he shower head to wash with. This shower was a whole new level of comfort and I really struggled to tear myself away from it when it was time to climb out and get dressed.

The Hotel even provides separate pool towels to bath towels, so you really don’t need to pack your own. They also had a lovely selection of toiletries to use.

What I loved the most about the rooms was how big they were. We were in a Standard room, and we had more than enough space for 2 camp cots (we did ask them to remove their one to make more space but it’s nice to know that two fit well so that when we come back with the new baba we will all have enough space!), our big pram, all of our stuff (especially Everly’s baby paraphernalia) and I didn’t ever feel like I was tripping over things. And the curtains make the rooms super dark, which meant we were ALL able to really maximise our morning and afternoon naps while the sun shone all day.

Restaurants & the Infamous Buffet

Kiddies Play Area

Swimming Pool Area

It was a bit windy over the weekend that we were there so while we didn’t actually get into the pools, we were able to enjoy getting our feet wet.

Two of the pools are heated (yay!) and there were lots of older kiddies happily swimming and splashing about. So definitely make sure to pack swimming costumes as the water looked so inviting!

Fishing & walks nearby

Although I wasn’t up to any serious hiking, we did head out on a lovely morning stroll to find the trout fishing dams. Farmboy is an AVID fisherman, and so he made it his mission that weekend to find the dams. While he didn’t actually get a moment to fish (he was catching up on all his missed sleep while being on farm duty the previous 2 weeks) we did find the dam and now we know for next time.

The stroll to the trout farm was beautiful, with fantastic views of the Peaks themselves. It only took us about 15 minutes to get to the little dam, but it did take a whole lot longer to walk back as their is a HUGE hill to the hotel (again, this is especially good for burning off all the waffles you’re going to eat at breakfast).

For the more adventurous, here is a little blurb on the actual hikes on offer from the Hotel:

“There are 19 walks/hikes that leave and return to the Hotel, for all levels of fitness, skill and ability. There is a guided walk/hike that leaves the hotel every morning (see reception for details of which hike on which day). There are also maps that can be purchased at reception for those walkers who would like to venture out on their own” Cathedral Peak Hotel

The only ‘downside’ to the hotel itself, and I’m hesitant to say downside as it was easy enough for us to work around, was all the stairs. It wasn’t that easy to push a pram on all the paths as a lot of the paths suddenly ended with a number of steps and we did have to go onto the grass a few times to be able to get to and from our room. While I didn’t mind the steps (it wasn’t easy going though for a pregnant lady!) they certainly helped me walk off all the food I put away during our stay.

We had such a wonderful stay and left feeling refreshed and relaxed, and with very full tummies. If you’re looking for something different to the usual beach holiday, a stay at Cathedral Peak Hotel has something for every member of the family.

Thanks so much for having us Cathedral Peak Hotel…we will definitely be back!

Bedford farm - our new home (what was a guesthouse is now where we call home!)

PLEASE NOTE THE GUESTHOUSE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE TO BOOK! WE HAVE SINCE MADE BEDFORD OUR HOME.

A few months ago, our family wrapped up renovations on one of the beautiful, original sandstone houses here on our farm. The farmhouse is called Bedford, as Farmboy and I got married on the property, making use of the beautiful old sandstone building opposite it for our ceremony, and the calf  shed for our reception (click here if you'd like to have a look at photos from our Vintage Farm-style Wedding).

With the renovations complete (for now!), I went about setting up the house on AirBnb and we welcomed our first set of guests over the Aloe Festival weekend. Since then we have had a number of guests stay at Bedford, and I thought it was about time I shared the space with my readers and followers here on the blog...

We have set up the house to be self-catering (we have provided anything and everything you could possibly need to make, serve and enjoy all your meals). The house has 5 bedrooms, and sleeps 10. There are 3 double rooms with queen sized beds, and two double rooms with twin beds. There are 2 bathrooms, one full bathroom inside with a shower, bath and toilet, and an outside loo for the more adventurous. Part of our plan in the future is to build on two more bathrooms inside.

There are also two wonderful fire places for those chilly afternoons and evenings...one in the main bedrooms, and the other in the cosy lounge. There is also a large dining room area for eating meals (or playing board games!) and a wonderful verandah with lots of comfortable seating overlooking our dam and the garden.

Bedford is also pet friendly, and we have already welcomed a number of guests and their pups:

"What a wonderful experience, wonderful for dogs and humans alike. A nice relaxing weekend with all the joys of country lounging and warmth. Worth a visit even if you don't have hounds!" CJ from Durban

The verandah and outside area

The Lounge & Dining Area

The Bedrooms

The Kitchen

The Inside Bathroom

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Lemon Tree Cafe in Underberg...1 year later on and still the best hot chocolate in the land!

This time last year, there was an epic snowfall in the Drakensberg. Farmboy and I, along with a lovely group of friends, went off in search of a patch or two of fluffy whiteness. While we didn't qiote get close enough to it to be able to build a snowman (unlike the CRAZY blizzards & snowfalls we experienced while living in South Korea) we still had a wonderful day enjoying a delicious hot chocolate (the best I've ever had! And I've drunken a LOT of hot chocolate in my time) and a really good meal at the Lemon Tree in Underberg.

After stuffing our faces silly, we took a drive up Sani Pass (well, as close to the top of Sani as we could get without our passports) and had coffee in blue tin mugs, with a view of the snow.

It was wonderful!

Oh, and I had a huge tummy at the time! It's always fun looking back at my bump now that my little girl is here with us. I can't believe a year has come and gone already. Here's to the next year!

Camera Cafe 꿈꾸는사진기 - Dreamy Camera Cafe just outside Seoul, South Korea

I am rather late to writing this blog post and sharing these pictures (in the time since I visited Dreamy Camera Cafe, Farmboy and I...and our pup Shadow, moved back home to South Africa, settled on the family dairy farm and I had a baby! Whew...An awful lot considering these photos were only taken a year and a half ago!).

A quick recap if you're reading this post and wondering what on earth we were doing in South Korea...

Farmboy and I moved to South Korea for our second stint of teaching English (the first was for a year in 2010 when we had just started dating, and ended up living in Daejeon...our second round we returned as a married couple and were placed in the teeny tiny rural town of Buan...which you can read more about by scrolling through the posts here:

One of our absolute favourite things about Korea has got to be their plethora of themed cafes.

Koreans sure do love their coffee, and what they love more than good coffee, is a cute place to enjoy it in.

I'm linking below, some of the other cafes we visited (there's a racoon cafe, dog cafe, cat cafe, flower cafe, teapot cafe...the list goes on!):

And now back to Dreamy Camera Cafe...

The cafe is situated outside of Seoul, and isn't that easy to get to. We had in a car while living in Korea and so were able to get drive there ourselves. But, the owners are so friendly, and before we had a car I had been in touch with them and they had given me really good directions for using public transport. I'll put those details at the end of this post.

We took our pup, Shadow (he went everywhere with us) and he had a ball meeting the two local pups who live with their owners (the camera cafe owners) in a sweet little house next to the cafe. You'll find them in one of the polaroid pictures below.

The cafe itself is set inside a model of an actual classic Rolleiflex twin-lens camera. The cafe is a double storey building, with seating upstairs as well as downstairs. Every square inch of the cafe is filled with cameras and camera paraphanalia. It's a photographers dream!

It ended up taking us a good hour and a half driving through the peak holiday traffic in Seoul, and so we spent the morning at the cafe, drinking coffee, eating cheesecake and being served delicious homemade pink lemonade! The owners, Park Sung-hwan and his wife Kwak Myung-hee began construction on their dream in 2012, and first opened their doors a year later. 

Both Sung-hwan & Myung-hee built the cafe in the hopes that people would visit for longer than the time it takes them to snap a photo in front of the iconic building and gulp down a cup of coffee. They encourage their customers to spend time dreaming and leave inspired to bring their dreams to life.

They even take photos of their customers with a polaroid camera, encourage them to write down their dreams and hopes for the future. Here is our Bucket List...and I often look back at it with fond memories of our visit to the cafe:

They even take photos of their customers with a polaroid camera, encourage them to write down their dreams and hopes for the future. Here is our Bucket List...and I often look back at it with fond memories of our visit to the cafe:

Farmboy and I fit right in with our collection of cameras (I had my Nikon d750...used for the photos here in this post, and my polaroid, and Farmboy came armed with his GoPro).

If you're looking for a fun daytrip from Seoul, I highly recommend heading out to Dreamy Camera Cafe. Take a book, your journal or even your knitting, and spend a few hours in the peaceful surroundings. The cafe is also just as magical in each of the 4 seasons. Head on over to their Instagram account (click here) to see more photos of the cafe in the snow, the blossoms and the Autumn leaves.

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Address:  

341-13 Jungwon-ri, Yongmun-myeon, Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

Phone:

 +82 31-771-3264

Opening Hours: 

Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Closed on Mondays, Sundays & Public Holidays

Directions: 

If you come from seoul, there are two ways.
1. Use the Subway:
Jungang line station (youngsan, oksu, wangsimni, Cheongnyangni station...etc). 
Transfer to the Jungang line and go Yongmun station(용문역). 
Get out from yongmun station(용문역) Exit 1

* 2hrs need from Chungnyangni station to Yongmun station

2. Use Mugunghwa Train (usually once every two hrs)
You can only start your journey at Cheongnyangni station.
Cheongnyangni station (use the subway) and take the Mugunghwan Train to Yongmun station.
It takes 40minutes from Cheongnyangni station to Yongmun station.
At Youngmun station, take exit 1.
Take a taxi (it's 7km to the cafe). Tell/Show the taxi driver  "중원리 꿈꾸는 사진기"
+-10,000won need (about US$ 9~10)

Find the camera cafe online:

• Naver
• Facebook
• Instagram

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More posts on life in South Korea:

Blueberry Cafe in the Midlands - Great food in the Midlands

Blueberry Cafe is a special place. It's nestled just outside Nottingham Road in the Natal Midlands, and from the moment you start up the winding driveway, you just know your in for a treat.

This is our second visit, and even though we have yet to have sunshine on our visits, the weather never takes away from our experience.

Both of our visits have been over breakfast time, and this visit we had their Harvest Table which consisted of a blueberry pancake, muesli, yoghurt, fresh fruit and honey for starters with a 'cocktail' of fresh fruit juices that you mix yourself.

This is then followed by your choice of eggs, a side of bacon....yum! 

Blueberry cafe is most famous for it's bluebweey cheescake, but we were so full from breakfast, we didn't have any room for dessert. We did have a great cappuccino though!

One of the highlights of this cafe is a trip to the bathroom...I won't spoil the suprise entirely, but here's some photos to give you a little hint.

Pull the Wool

The cafe also has an amazing room filed with locally produced gifts and artwork. If it wasn't the middle of summer, I would have bought ALL the woollen items from cape town based Pull The Wool.

Instead, I had to make do with my camera in capturing the gorgeous colours and  textures.

You can find Pull The Wool online here >>> https://pull-the-wool.com/

Leigh Woodgate Paintings

I have long since been a fan of Leigh Woodgate's beautiful artwork, and have seen her paintings for sale all over KZN. My mom in law has a number of gorgeous roses in her home here on the farm, and I know that her work adorns a lot of the local ladies here in my town.

I'm hoping own one of them someday soon!

You can connect with Leigh Woodgate and her artwork on Facebook >>> Leigh Woodgate Art

Moth Home

And now on to my favourite things...these bags from Moth Home! How gorgeous are they?! These duffel bags make me want to jet off to a magical island right now.

Our visit to Blueberry Cafe was during our first family weekend away in the Berg. We spent one night at the gorgeous Forty Winks Guesthouse in Rosetta (blog post to come soon) and then another two nights with family in the Berg.

And finally, here are some shots of my little girl, who had just started smiling and cooing, and only had eyes for Dad...

Have you been to Blueberry Cafe? Did you enjoy it as much as we did? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below!

In the mean time, here are some more posts on places to visit in SA:

Creighton Steam Train Ride through the Aloes

The little village of Creighton, the place I now call home, is home to so much more than dairy cows and wide open spaces. It's got two wonderful attractions that bring thousands of visitors every July.

June and July mark the start of Aloe season, and with that, our town hosts the Creighton Aloe Festival, a weekend of activities for the whole family; from hot air balloon rides to market stalls, pony rides and great food.

And, throughout the month of July, the Creighton Steam Train is up and running and visitors hop aboard for a journey through the valley of Aloes.

The train leaves the Creighton Railway Station and makes the 3 hour round trip from Creighton to Riverside, along the Ngogwaan River.

Farmboy and I, along with some friends (all armed with a delicious picnic lunch) boarded the train at 10am after stuffing our faces with bacon & egg rolls and cups of hot chocolate on the station platform. The train starts its journey by making its way through the neighboring farms (the best part was catching a glimpse of our own farm from the carriage window) before it winds its way down to the river.

Depending on the train schedule, there are either 1 or 2 stops along the way. Our train just stopped once, and we all piled off in search of the perfect picnic spot.

Farmboy also had his drone with him and will be putting together an awesome video of our trip. 

Here is the video he made last year documenting the route the train takes.

This year we were able to actually go on the train so keep a look out for that video soon.

We stopped for just over an hour, long enough to soak up the sunshine and enjoy our picnic amongst the aloes.

It was a really enjoyable morning, and I hope we are able to go again next year.

How to book:

Contact glynnis@toocee.co.za or rayna1@telkomsa.net to make your booking.

Price per person:

Children age 3 to 12 apply. Children under 3yrs are free.

Coaches:  Adults // Children

• Sisonke Coach:  R280  // R230
• Casual Lounge coach:  // R230 // R200
• Sitter & Family Coach:   // R200  // R170
• Vintage coach:  R180 // R150
• Caboose Coach:  R180 // R150

Italy Through Photographs - Highlights of our three week Babymoon through Milan, Lake Como, Bologna, Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Pisa, Amalfi, Naples & Bergamo

In June this year, Farmboy and I headed to Italy for 21 days of {backpacking} adventure to celebrate our baby-moon (or rather, the celebrate our last few moments of life as we know we it before our little girl joins us in September). 

I will be writing travel guides for all of the places we visited, but it's going to take me a while. Along with our trip to India last year (eeeek I still have yet to finish the travel guides for that!) this was one of the most extensively planned trips we have ever done. This was all due to the fact that we had to have ALL our bookings (trains, planes, accommodation, buses etc) booked ahead of time in order to secure Farmboys Schengen Visa. I am lucky enough to hold dual citizenship and so have a British Passport, which makes traveling a breeze for me, but which unfortunately gives poor Farmboy no special treatment.

We stayed in AirBnb's for 90% of the trip, only staying in Hotels on the Amalfi coast when we couldn't find an AirBnb within our budget. We were backpacking (or rather, Farmboy was...I carried the camera bag and of course our little baby) and managed to survive 3 weeks living out of a 13kg bag.

I will be sharing more on what we packed (including what toiletries I packed) in another post. I also will write more on what traveling while being 6 months pregnant is like soon.

All in all, it was FAR easier than I had thought. Bonus...being able to skip all the queues at the airports!

Here is a breakdown of our 20 day trip:

Johannesburg > Istanbul, Turkey > Milan

Milan (1 night)

Milan > Bellagio, Lake Como (2 nights)

Bellagio > Milan > Venice (2 nights)

Venice > Bologna (1 night)

Bologna > Florence (1 night)

Florence > Todi, Tuscany/Umbira (3 nights)

Todi > Rome (3 nights)

Rome > Amalfi Coast (1 night in Ravello & 3 nights in Conca dei Marini)

Amalfi Coast > Naples (1 night)

Naples > Bergamo (1 night)

Bergamo > Milan > Istanbul, Turkey > Johannesburg

It's going to take some time before the travel guides are up, so in the mean time, here are a few of the photographic highlights of our trip.

We bought a second hand Fujifilm x100T especially for the trip, and had planned to only take that camera along but I ended up taking my Nikon D750 at the last minute. I'm so glad I did as it took me a while to figure out how the Fujifilm worked and to get used to it. So here are my photographs from both cameras.

Farmboy is working on a travel video too, which I'll link up here in this post when it's done.

Enjoy!

x

Here are some of my other Travel Guides for you to browse through in the mean time while I create the guides for Italy.

Enjoy!