Join us on our visit to South Africa!

Posted:30 January 2010

The Garden House has arranged to take a group of gardening enthusiasts to South Africa in October.  We are so looking forward to this trip! It will be South Africa’s spring season, when the Cape will be covered with field upon field of flowers in bloom.

Key aspects of the visit are highlighted below, for full details contact@gardenhousebrighton.co.uk

Arriving in Cape Town (South African Airways, direct flight from Heathrow), the group will stay at The Vineyard Hotel & Spa for four nights (www.vineyard.co.za a beautiful hotel set in its own glorious gardens).

Our first view of this amazing country will be from the top of Table Mountain (by cable car of course!), part of a half-day city orientation tour.

The next day we take a guided visit to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens (www.sanbi.org), world-renowned for the beauty and diversity of the Cape flora it displays and for the magnificence of its setting against the eastern slopes of Table Mountain. This is the most beautiful time of year – when the whole garden is alive with colour as fields of Namaqualand annuals and spring bulbs burst into flower.

Whilst based in Cape Town we will also take a Winelands tour (tasting the local vintages of course!), and visit the Langa Township.

Our tour of Langa includes private gardens, and the inspiring community food gardens.  The Abalimi Bezakhaya project teaches sustainable living, supplying locals with trees and shrubs to green their areas, and encouraging people to grow their own food.

We then leave the Cape travelling up the West Coast visiting Weylandts and the Tienie Versveld Wildflower Reserves, then on to the West Coast National Park and Postberg Nature Reserve – all the while taking in the stunning coastline and fields of wildflowers.

Our next base is Paternoster Lodge (www.paternoster-lodge.co.za).  From here we visit Elandberg Eco Reserve for a Rooibos Tea Tour – with the added bonus of trying out a variety of refreshing Rooibos teas in the farm house, hosted by the farmer’s wife!  We then drive on to Lutzville to meet Wynand, our specialist wildflower guide who will take us to his favourite flower spots, the Rock Art Trail, and show us around the wine estate at Matzikamma.

From there, on to the Aquila Private Game Reserve (www.aquilasafari.com) our base for the last two nights of our trip.  Here we’ll enjoy an evening game drive, and the following day, a morning game drive – a fantastic opportunity to observe South Africa’s amazing wildlife up close.

So, just a brief summary of this exciting Garden House tour.  Contact us for the full details contact@gardenhousebrighton.co.uk . All costs are included, bar a few meal times when you are free to wander and make your own local choices.  We do hope you’ll be inspired to join us!