Dining experience at the Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse

The cuisine, in the French tradition but with a local flavour, is one of the highlights of a stay at Bartholomeus Klip. The dedicated chefs ensure that as many as possible of the ingredients used come from the area, such as the locally-produced salmon trout and lamb, the menus served are varied and imaginative. The sumptuous brunch, which is served after the morning game drive, offers a spread of fruits, cereals (including Bartholomeus Klip's famous muesli pie), cold meats, cheeses, and freshly baked pastries. A full English breakfast can be ordered, along with hot toast and muffins, and a selection of home-made preserves. Tea can be enjoyed in the sitting room of Bartholomeus, with a crackling fire in the winter months: scones with whipped cream and jam or grated cheese, miniature quiches, exotic sandwiches and wraps, various tarts and pastries, and always a spectacular cake are served. A perfect day in the countryside is ended with dinner in the conservatory, where the gourmet meals are matched with the offerings on the carefully-chosen wine list.

Accommodation

Each of the comfortable bedrooms at the Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse with their specially made bedlinen, generous reading lamps and views onto the garden, features its own distinctive style, and returning guests often ask for their particular favourite. The separate suite, which had been converted from farm outbuildings, is spacious and inviting, with a private verandah looking out over the.

The Main house at Bartholomeus

The main homestead at Bartholomeus Klip is over a hundred years old and filled with modern comforts, including air-conditioning for the hot days of summer. It is surrounded by a wide shady verandah, with groups of comfortable seating overlooking the gardens, and the house itself is furnished with antiques and designer fabrics.

The scale of the main house with its four bedrooms and an outside suite, provides guests with the feeling of being a guest in a particularly charming and hospitable home. With three different sitting rooms, as well as the Deckhouse a short stroll away next to the lake, privacy is never an issue and, since this country retreat does not accept children under the age of 16, peace and quiet are assured.

The Wild Olive House & Guest Cottage

The Wild Olive House, which was opened in response to requests for self-catering accommodation at Bartholomeus Klip, is particularly popular with groups of friends and families. Children are welcomed here, and the house has its own garden, swimming pool, large shady verandah and outdoor facilities for braais and barbecues Accommodation inside the Wild Olive House consists of a spacious open-plan sitting room, dining room and beautifully equipped kitchen, with two airy double bedrooms, a smaller single one (bunk beds can be supplied on request), and two bathrooms.

If desired, adults can choose to eat at Bartholomeus Klip itself, and meals (as well as babysitters) can be provided for children. The Cottage is located in the garden of the Wild Olive House providing a double bedroom, bathroom and a small sitting room, with a private verandah overlooking the reserve.

Game drives at the Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse

Highlights of a stay at the Bartholomeus Klip country retreat are the morning and evening game drives through the 10 000 acre nature reserve. There are many animals , easily seen in the low fynbos or on the grassy plains, but the most important inhabitant of the reserve is a far smaller creature: the endangered geometric tortoise, one of the world's rarest reptiles, safe here in its last remaining viable habitat.

Animals and Birds

The reserve is abundant with herds of eland, springbuck, black wildebeest, zebra and bontebok. Many other animals, such as baboons, bat-eared foxes, lynxes, and smaller species of antelope, live here too, and it is known that leopards still occur in the mountains.

Among the birdlife at Bartholomeus Klip is the world's largest bird, the ostrich, once farmed here in large flocks at the height of the ostrich feather boom in the 1870s and today one of the leopard's favourite foods. The magnificent black eagle, also known as the Verreaux's eagle, nests in the mountains, and the dam near to the farmhouse has a spectacular array of water birds, some resident like the fish eagles and the kingfishers, and others such as the pelicans and the spoonbills less regular visitors. Flamingos have also been seen in some of Bartholomeus Klip's smaller dams and there are a host of interesting large and small birds out in the reserve and on the wheatlands, including large flocks of the blue crane, South Africa's national bird.

Quagga Zebras

Also to be seen at Bartholomeus Klip are zebras from the Quagga Project, which has aroused enormous interest around the world. This revolutionary project is aimed at re-breeding the extinct quagga, a zebra-like animal with no stripes on its rump and legs, and reintroducing it into reserves in its former habitat.

Flowers and plants on the reserve

The Bartholomeus Klip reserve forms part of the Cape Floristic Region, which is one of the world's six floral kingdoms and the smallest of these by far, but extraordinarily rich in species of flowering plants. The particular flora in this reserve is so special that it has been declared a provincial nature reserve, as well as a Natural Heritage Site. This is due to the fact that the vegetation in the reserve consists largely of highly endangered renosterveld, which is particularly threatened since it grows on rich soil which has almost entirely been ploughed up for agriculture. One has identified more than 800 species of plants at Bartholomeus Klip, some of which, such as the Elandsberg candelabra lily, the Elandsberg pea and a new species of pelargonium, the Elandsberg pelargonium, have only ever been found in the reserve.

Activities

Guests staying at Bartholomeus Klip are provided with a great variety of things they can do, although plenty of the retreat's guests love to spend their time just relaxing. However, for the more active guests, mountain bikes for cycling through the reserve or along the farm roads through the wheatfields are provided, and there are plenty of wonderful routes to choose for walks. Down at the dam guests can take to the water in canoes, or go windsurfing, trout fishing or birdwatching. Even the most relaxed guest will want to join our rangers on the morning and evening game drives through the reserve, where there is always something different to discover.

Nearby attractions

From Bartholomeus Klip visitors look out over the Riebeek Valley where many wine and olive farms can be visited. Guests are also welcome to visit the house where Jan Smuts was born which is now a museum. Half an hour away the charming restored village of Tulbagh is reached via a scenic pass winding through the mountains, and farther afield, Wellington, Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch have much to offer visitors, especially those interested in wine and food. Along the West Coast, easily reached from Bartholomeus Klip, the West Coast National Park near the town of Langebaan is a mecca for birders and, in the springtime, for flower lovers. Also near Langebaan, the West Coast Fossil Park is one of the richest fossil sites in the world, with an open archaeological dig where the bones of extinct giraffes called sivatheres are clearly visible among a jumble of other fossilised bones. The small town of Velddrif has a bird hide and boardwalk overlooking the Berg River Estuary, a 'hot spot' for rare waders and waterbirds in general, and the nature reserve at Rocherpan nearby is renowned for wildflowers and whale watching as well as for its wide variety of bird species.

Directions to the Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse

• Travel out on the N1 and take exit 47, sign-posted as the R44 to Stellenbosch, Klapmuts and Wellington.
• On leaving the N1, turn left and follow the R44 for 20km until you reach a four-way stop.
• Proceed across the four-way stop and 2km later turn left at the road marked Distillery Street/ Wellington/ Porterville/ Ceres (still on the R44).
• Travel for approximately 26km until you reach the turn-off on the left to Hermon/Riebeek Kasteel. Do not take this option but be on the lookout as the lodge's turn-off is 1 km later on the right, sign-posted Bo Hermon.
• Follow the gravel road for about 2km until it curves to the left and then sharply to the right (at this point there will be farm workers' houses on your left and large sheds on your right). As you come out of the second bend you will see two white concave walls on your left.
• Turn down between the two walls and follow the road that heads towards the mountain until it reaches a cement drift, which you cross over.
• You then take the right-hand fork and follow the road for about 3.5km until you reach the farmyard. As you arrive you will see on your left some small buildings under the trees, and then you will pass Wild Olive House and a private home.
• The road then splits and you take the left-hand fork, towards the white-washed wall with the Bartholomeus Klip sign on it.
• Follow the road up through the gardens under the oaks, and around to the parking area at the back of the house.