Even though there is a drought.
there seems to be water all over the Walkersons Estate.
Either in the form of rivers, streams or dams.
This particular weir is at the security entrance.
The view of the Hotel & Spa
as seen from the road
The main entrance.
Guarded by a bronze cheetah,
as well as the British and South African flags
The “old world” charm of the reception desk.
I did not realize that “picnic baskets”
was an activity
With the exception of a few minutes of sunshine
on our final morning,
the weather was overcast and misty.
Which mean fires were lit in all the fireplaces.
Making for cosy corners in both the accommodation
as well as the main building
A seating area near the bar in the main building.
Old style paintings as well as statues in each room,
give the property the feeling of a Scottish/English castle
This area, which is on the covered patio,
contains a library
Some of the “wild life” that spotted.
I did see a Black-backed Jackal,
but it took off to quickly for me to get a photograph
So this cat will have to be the designated substitute.
The gardens are typically English
and are beautiful.
This was the view from our front door
Our accommodation.
It has been a while since we have had a mid-week break,
and more importantly it has been almost a year
since we had a “non-wildlife” holiday.
It was a pleasure to NOT have to get up for a game drive at 05h00.
And the view of our private deck.
With a view of just on of the many dams in the distance
The main dining area is where we enjoyed both breakfast
as well as dinner.
The room was amoeba like as the staff changed
the seating layout after each service.
Breakfast
For the first time in a long while I found a chef who could do
PROPER crisp bacon!
Lunch.
Walkersons do have a lunch menu and we decided to take advantage of that
rather than drive into Dullstroom.
Both the Waldorf salad as well as the toasted sandwich were delicious.
The chips were especially delicious.
My wife, on her way to dinner.
The mist had settled in and added a layer of mystery
Our first dinner:
We went “Full Monty” and did soup, starters. mains and dessert!
The meal was prepared by a trio of Chefs…
Natasha, Patricia and Olbert
Red lentil soup to start.
My starter was Springbok carpaccio with a trio of melon balls.
My wife chose the tomato and olive tartlet.
For mains I had the seared beef,
while my wife had the oven baked trout.
Dessert was a chocolate brownie for my wife
and I chose the very generous cheese platter.
Our final dinner:
We decided to have a light dinner for our final evening meal.
Roast quail for my wife and crusted rack of lamb for me.
The meal was beautifully prepared by Chef Albert
There are statues similar to these
scattered throughout the property
Spa time…
There is a stand alone Amani African Spa
just a short walk from the reception area.
It offers a variety of treatments,
which includes the couples massage that my wife and I had.
A great way to spend a cool misty morning
Aside from the hotel, there are several homes on the estate.
I got to meet one of the owners while he was fishing at a dam
near our accommodation.
He told me that he had caught a large trout earlier,
but…wait for it…it got away!
Even though the weather was not “the best”,
we were able to relax and spend our days walking around the property
and basically doing NOTHING!
Highly recommended for a weekend getaway.
Or, if your schedule allows it, an awesome mid-week break.
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