A bucolic interlude in SA

David Pauline visits Cape Town and the Western Cape

I must ask you, first, to put aside for the moment any preconceptions you may have of South Africa – leastwise the Western Cape region.

If you’re looking to find poverty, you will surely find it in some of the townships around Cape Town. If you’re expecting to look out of your hotel window and see herds of Wildebeest galloping across the plain, you’ll be disappointed. (The serious game reserves are way up north.) And if you’re concerned about unfettered lawlessness, with a mugger lurking on every street corner, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

And from here on in it just gets better and better.



There’s only one place to start. We’ve all seen the pictures, but nothing could quite prepare me for the grandeur of Table Mountain – or the great sweep of the city below me when the cable car reached the top. And out in Table Bay, Robben Island, a brooding reminder of less happy times.



I could have spent a week in Cape Town, but it would have to wait. My destination was the award-winning Pezula Resort Hotel & Spa (www.pezularesorthotel.com) outside Knysna — a 300 mile plus drive east along the N2 and ‘Garden Route’. (Knysna itself — www.knysna.org — has twice been voted South Africa’s favourite holiday destination and is particularly famous for oysters.)

Standing high on the Eastern Head, Pezula is bounded by rugged cliffs, ancient forests and sheltered beaches, with glorious views of the Indian Ocean and Knysna lagoon.

As well as a Championship golf course, the estate is home to the ‘Field of Dreams’ sports facility – and, hidden away in a natural hollow, an absolutely delightful little cricket ground.

The hotel boasts 78 sumptuous suites set in beautifully landscaped gardens. Each has everything you could wish for – right down to deli snacks in a pantry kitchen and a real log fireplace! No detail has been overlooked. Or you can stay at one of two romantic, miniature castles on the nearby secluded and pristine Noetzie Beach. It would be worth getting married just to honeymoon there. Almost!



If you can’t relax at Pezula, you can’t relax anywhere!

But if you really cannot relax, there’s a 24-hour business centre and a gym — and the list of outdoor activities on offer is extensive to say the least. What about archery? Or horse riding? Or mountain biking? And, of course, there’s tennis and a pool. I settled for a fascinating guided walk down through the forest, then canoed the last half-mile along the lazily flowing Noetzie river to the beach. Idyllic.

There are several eating options, by the way. The stylish Zachary’s restaurant was recently named one of the top ten in South Africa — or you could dine down at the beach. (Don’t worry, transport’s provided!)

After the R & R, it’s on the road again. But instead of heading back the way I’d come, I struck north for the stunning Outeniqua Pass and thence west on the ‘Scenic Route’ (as if the ‘Garden Route’ wasn’t scenic enough!) across the Little Karoo on Route 62 towards Montagu – the gateway to The Winelands. And to joy unconfined!

Here I was to discover Mimosa Lodge ‘guesthouse’. Dating back to 1859, the main double-storey building is a national monument. In the tranquil gardens, among more than 200 indigenous Little Karoo plants, you’ll find a swimming pool, a croquet lawn, a boules pitch, seven tastefully furnished modern suites and the secluded Orchard Suite with its own private garden and pool.

Better yet is the multi-award-winning food. No choice, just a set dinner: that night it was Crayfish Tail with Avocado Salsa and Truffle Soured Cream, followed by chilled Butternut Soup infused with Curry and Orange garnished with crispy bacon, Escalopes of Veal on a bed of Swiss Chard with Seasonal Vegetables (from their own gardens) and a Calvados Cream. To round things off, a trio of Mousses – Picasso Fudge, Tiramisu and Chocolate. All exquisite and beautifully presented. The bill? £16. And that included an aperitif! (As I was dining alone, I opted to have a glass of a different wine with each course. That bumped up the price — to £23.)

Forgive me for banging on, but Mimosa Lodge is somewhere rather special. (www.mimosa.co.za)

I could write pages on the wines of the Western Cape. Names like Stellenbosch, Robertson and Worcester are well-known here, but that’s not the half of it: there are no less than 23 wine-growing districts. The quality is rarely less than excellent and there are some truly world-class vintages. The beauty is that a bottle of decent wine can be had for a couple of pounds in a store. Even in a top restaurant like Constantia Uitsig outside Cape Town you’re still only talking around £10, with the really good stuff seldom costing more than £30. (For details of the various Wine Routes go to www.wineroute.co.za)

As an alternative to DIY, what about a guided tour? Wine enthusiast Sue Bevan of North West-based Winter Hill Wines arranges tailor-made itineraries for small groups. Having lived in South Africa for some 25 years, she really knows the country and its wines/winemakers. (suebevan@winterhillwines.com)



Just time left to explore The Waterfront at Cape Town with its incredible array of shops, bars, restaurants and strolling players, then off to the airport.

For me, the Western Cape has everything. The climate is wonderful, the scenery ranges from soft bucolic beauty, through dramatic to absolutely spectacular, the people are genuinely friendly and it’s one of the cleanest, most tidy places I’ve ever seen!

Add to that eating out for about half what we pay here, decent wine for even less, petrol at under 50p a litre and genuinely friendly people, and you begin to see the appeal of this amazing country. I’ve bored my friends rigid since I got back!

FACTS

Getting there:
None of the airlines fly direct to Cape Town from UK regional airports, but there’s plenty of choice from London: I went with Virgin Atlantic. Prices vary greatly from £500-£700, so shop around.

When to go:
Our winter is their summer. Dec-April is best, with August/September for the Spring flowers.

Where to stay:
No need to go to the expense of big hotels. B&Bs in the Western Cape are generally superior to the UK – many have swimming pools! – and even the ‘expensive’ ones cost only about £60 per night for a double room. I stayed at –

Dongola House (Constantia, Cape Town) - www.dongolahouse.com A peaceful suburb, pleasant vistas, comfortable garden suites round a pool and terrific breakfasts. Du Plessis lookalike/soundalike Peter Eckstein as host is a bonus.

Kleinvaterfal Riverside Lodge (nr Franschhoek) - www.kleinvaterfal.co.za Babbling brook, vineyards, citrus groves, superb pool and a mountain backdrop. Idyllic.

Woodlands Guest House (Wilderness) – 082 823 5223 Not as modern as some, but spacious and welcoming. Tiny infinity pool is a nice touch. Wonderful view over the lagoon, but at the price of rather a lot of steps!

Where to eat:
Eating out is inexpensive and, for the most part, quality is high.

Middle-of-the-Road, in no particular order -
Cape Town Fish Market (Almost everywhere!) – www.ctfm.co.za

San Marco (V & A Waterfront, Cape Town)

Pastis (Great Constantia, Cape Town)

The Barn (Riebeek Kasteel)

Wilderness Grill (Wilderness)

Harbour House (Kalk Bay)

At the top end, I can recommend –
Constantia Uitsig (Cape Town) – www.constantia-uitsig.com

Dieu Donne (Franschhoek) – info@dieudonnerestaurant.com

Tokara (Helshoogte, Stellenbosch) – eat@tokararestaurant.co.za

Baia Seafood (Waterfront, Cape Town)

The Winery (Backsberg) – www.backsberg.co.za

And Mimosa you know about already!

What to see:
So much, and so little time. But not to be missed are –

Cape Town Waterfront

Table Mountain

The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point (Once in the nature reserve, take care not to confuse the two. Cape Point’s the one with the lighthouse!)

Cape Agulhas – The real southernmost point in Africa!

Whale-watching off Hermanus – about 70 miles south-east of Cape Town. Summer’s best and there’s a Whale Festival every September (www.whalefestival.co.za )

The Penguins at Boulders Reserve – south of Simonstown on the Cape peninsula.

The Cape-Dutch towns of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Kirstenbosch and Paarl.

Useful addresses:
Robben Island – www.robben-island.org.za

Table Mountain – www.tablemountain.net

Garden Route – www.gardenroute.co.za

Winelands – www.winelands.co.za

National Parks – www.sanparks.org

Cape Town Tourism – www.tourismcapetown.co.za

South African Tourism Office – www.tourismsouthafrica.net or

6 Alt Grove, London SW19 4DZ. Tel: 0870 1550044

Final notes:
Only the very large petrol stations take plastic and then not all.

Don’t pick up hitch-hikers.

Don’t flash your cash or belongings.

Don’t get paranoid!

(Pictures also by David Pauline.)

320d refreshes my memory

In this business it's easy enough to forget just how good a car can be. It's just because we drive so many different kinds, from Daihatsu Sirions to supercharged Range Rovers, and the whole length of motordom in between.

It's a recipe for becoming blase. Or, or maybe and, becoming confused.



And there's another thing. Cars in the middle ranges have improved so much in the last decade that from time to time people like me can forget that some particular brands, and particular models within them, can still stand out above the main herd.

That last has happened to me more than once. I've been occasionally so taken with the quality of a mass manufacturer's product that I've suggested it is hard to justify going above it for one of the 'prestige' brands. This isn't to say that I think I've been wrong, but it would be foolish to consider the elites not worth their penny.

I was reminded of this when recently reacquainting with the current BMW 3 Series. In the particular form of the 320d.

The 3 Series is the real bread-and-butter (or should that be cake-and-cream?) of the BMW brand, and arguably the one which most non-BMW owners aspire to in terms of the carmaker from Munich. And it comes in a number of flavours in both petrol and diesel variants. There is a valid position that there's no need to go beyond the 320d.



But first, the car itself. Even before Chris Bangle left the company's design stable, some of his styling excesses had already been smoothed out. But it is fair to say that by the time he came to produce the 3 Series, he had it all right, and this car, especially in saloon form, is one of the nicest cars in the BMW stable.

In format it is a classic three-box, with distinctive lines and a very smart rear roofline flowing into the bootlid. That gives an almost-coupe effect, without any of the disadvantages, and all in all the aesthetic balance of the styling is really good. From the front, the car is unmistakably a BMW of the most modern kind.

But it is from inside that the owner of a car must feel he or she has an automobile that reflects what has been spent, and in this respect I certainly feel it does so. The review car featured light cream leather and a really good representation of wood trim. The sculpting of the dashboard top offers its own part to the overall character of the car, while the level of build quality is as we would expect after shelling out €42,000-€50,000 for a car.

In options terms, the review car had a few high-cost items. The Nav system comes with a tag in excess of €3,000, close to another grand for Bluetooth phone preparation, and something similar for the automatic airconditioning. Parking control front and rear was another €900 plus, while the autobox added another €2,700 or so. The leather and wood interior adds a tad less than €5,000.

So, getting to this particular sense of luxury doesn't come cheap. But at least, the options you particularly want are at your own discretion.



The basic car in the 320d format is still what gives the typical BMW feeling of strong build and serious engineering. And it is that latter engineering expertise which has always underpinned what BMW is all about.

Having a 2.0 engine slotted into the B CO2 taxation band is quite an achievement, even if it is a diesel. It is just one of the real world expressions of what BMW calls their 'EfficiencyDynamics' programme. Being frugal in fuel consumption and emissions doesn't seem to come at any performance cost, either, as a 0-100km/h sprint in around eight seconds is very acceptable. Even more is the 80-120km/h acceleration of 6.6 seconds in fourth gear.

The auto trans worked seamlessly, and my driving experience with the car was never less than enjoyable. I really was reminded of how much value BMW put on their reputation for producing 'drivers' cars.

For the passengers, the accommodation is very good too. And unlike many cars in a similar size segment, there's enough leg and headroom in the rear to have a 6'2" man travel in comfort for any length of trip.

Right, there's money to be spent on acquiring this BMW, even in its basic specification. But I left the car back with the feeling that, more than most, the spend might be regarded to a great degree as an investment. Because I suspect that the 320d could safely be kept for at least five years without the owner having reliability worries, or getting tired of the ambience.

It's a bit like buying a suit. A cheap one will quickly show its age and wear, and might never even be comfortable. An expensive one will show its value for most of its much longer life.

Brian Byrne.