My favourite place in the world is strolling through the gardens of Vergelegen wine estate in Somerset West, South Africa. While I could also argue Cape Town is the best city in the world, the wine estate really is my ‘happy place’.
I can visit Vergelegen again and again and again (you get the thrill…) and never get tired of it as well as always find something new or different.
Vergelegen wine estate, a world-class destination and five times winner of the Great Wine Capitals Global Best of Wine Tourism Award, offers visitors an exceptional opportunity to view an array of 18 gardens, a choice of dining experiences as well as wine tastings. T
o get there, drive in Lourensford Road of #somersetwest until a four-way stop and turn right. The small road takes you along the fence of the estate and over a bridge crossing the Lourens River. Then take a left turn to the entrance of Vergelegen. Entrance fee is R 10 per adult. Continue until the parking area.
Walk through the entrance of the elegant tasting centre and step out onto the terrace. The view opens to the octagonal shaped herb garden and the Stables restaurant to your right.
Take a stroll to the left, cross the road and the walk leads into one of many manicured gardens along Clivia plants and a bamboo tunnel to the building of the old library. Have a look inside and be instantly taken back to the ancient time when the first explorers were travelling the African continent. You can also find the largest pool table.
Continue to walk between the ponds and around the corner you will immediately be drawn to the large camphor trees and the main house. The Five Camphor trees were planted by Willem Adriaan van der Stel between 1700 and 1706 and are declared national monuments.
When you visit the homestead please note that it is not allowed to take photos inside the building.
The residential Homestead, dating back to the 1700’s, with each room authentically furnished, reflects the layered historicism of the over 300 years of Vergelegen existence. The Homestead also houses an Exhibition Corridor, comprising a series of pictorial panels detailing the various eras of the history of the slaves, the owners and significant visitors to the Estate.
Stepping out at the back entrance of the homestead your view is drawn towards the Hottentots Holland Mountain Range. Go to the left and you will find an ancient door reminding of the ones you can find in Zanzibar. Try to find the initials L P from Sir Lionel Phillips, a previous owner of the estate, on the rainwater drain. The octagonal garden was the first garden to be restored in 1990. The two herbaceous borders flanking the path to the homestead are divided into two distinct seasons – summer and winter. In also contains the David Austen Rose Garden.
Walking out in front of the homestead and keeping to the left from the camphor trees you pass two large Avocado trees and come to the octagonal rose garden. This rose garden has been cultivated on the site of the old tennis court. The centre piece is a sculpture by Stanislaw Trzebinski entitled “Aphrodite”.
Continuing your walk beside the pickup point for the picnic baskets and you wander through the mystic camphor forest which is the best spot for a luxury, “white tablecloth” picnic. These beautifully shaded and tranquil woodlands are so enchanted that one cannot help but to look out for little fairies and Wichtelmänner. Going through you come to the wetland area with a boardwalk, flourishing arum lilies, indigenous blue water lilies and different species of fern. From here you can walk through the Camellia Garden of Excellence and down to the banks of the Lourens River.
The big lawn area surrounded by the Camphor Restaurant, the bell tower and the camphor trees is the spot for the RMB Starlight Classics concert.
One of the newest popup eatery is the River Café. From here you can walk along the river until the suspension bridge and the reminding wall of the old mill.
Coming around behind the Camphor restaurant is the reflection garden with two ponds and to the left you find the oldest living oak tree of South Africa.
Walking towards the mountain range you come to the back of Stables Restaurant. Have some fun finding your way around the maze. The maze ‘walls’ have been planted with vines and it has an octagonal centre to keep up with the symbolic.
Right next to it is the extensive agapanthus garden with some 12,000 agapanthus and more than 15 species, which are planted in bold diagonal bands, showcasing the great variety of different colours, sizes and flowering times.
An adventure playground incorporates plastered sand bag walls which curl through timber play structures and form the edge of a large colourful rubber surface. Swings, slides and an interactive play stream that meanders through the play area. Life size sculptured wooden animals (from felled trees on the estate) are placed around the playground. Kids can run and climb and swing and slide.
@vergelegen_wine_estate is a great day out for families with plenty of open spaces.
Shortly after Anglo American purchased Vergelegen in 1987, a team was commissioned to restore the Vergelegen gardens and grounds in the historic core of the Estate. The layered approach in restoring was adopted in the gardens and a theme of generous and intimate garden areas developed, contrasting the simple with the bold and the formal with the informal.
On the way back to your car you have to stop at the tasting area to taste and purchase award winning wines, since you are not allowed to leave this winery without some bottles of Vergelegen wine in your boot ;)
Fun Fact no. 1: You will return and visit this beautiful extraordinary wine estate again and again…
The wine cellar
The winery at Vergelegen is totally unique, epitomising the property’s maxim: Ex Africa semper aliquid novi (Out of Africa always something new)
Situated high on a hilltop, only the top level of the multi-levelled structure sunk in to the earth is visible. with its octagonal shape mirroring the design of the historic homestead’s walled garden – originally laid out by the founder, the visitor’s viewing deck and roof gardens offer a 360 view of the estate, the towering Hottentots Holland mountain peaks behind, the town of Somerset West below, the Atlantic Ocean beyond and distant Table Mountain. The winery allows for the gentlest possible handling of the wine by making use of gravity flow wherever practical.
The gravity flow winery was opened by Barone de Rothschild on 31 March 1992.
Approached in the early 1990’s, architect Patrick Dillon says: “We were given carte blanche to locate and design the winery, with the caveat that it should acknowledge in some way the historic homestead and allow for a gravity-flow wine-making process.” He continues: “The geometry that we adopted for the building is a literal allusion to the octagonal gardens at the homestead, but it also happens to be an efficient organisational geometry for the wine-making facilities, such as the fermentation tank room and barrel cellar. Burying he structure in the hilltop not only made a gravity-flow process possible, it also minimised the visual impact of the structure on the landscape.”
Besides the top level, the three subterranean levels that comprise the remainder of the winery lie buried eleven metres beneath the ground. Two levels can be viewed from an upper walkway. The lowest, roofed level houses the red wine maturation cellar, with the winery’s buried tower configuration maximising the natural insulation provided underground. It also allows for the gentlest possible handling of the wine by making use of gravity flow wherever practical. #architecutaldesing #gravityflow #winefacts
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For dining experience it is necessary to make a reservation for Camphor and the River Café, it is also recommended for the Stables restaurant. In case you want to enjoy a picnic reservations are essential (at least 24 hours in advance) -- November - April for collection of picnic baskets daily from 12:15h - 13:30h
Fun Fact no. 2: Did you know? The first ‘new’ vines were planted on #vergelegen in 1989, comprising: #cabernetsauvignon #merlot #cabernetfranc #malbec #shiraz #sauvignonblanc #chardonnay #semillon
