Tue 19 Dec - FRANSCHHOEK

Sadly, in some respects, it was time to move on after 5 nights at the Eendracht … that was 2118R/night, or about £125. Reception had organised a taxi for us for 1130, for the relatively short journey to Franschhoek … and thus we met the delightful [and cheap] Adriaan. What? 300R for the trip? Last year the same journey cost 420R! Thanks, Adriaan … a safe and friendly and informative driver!

And here we are again, at The Franschhoek Country House and Villas >> Franschhoek Country House and Villa's - A 5 Star Luxury Hotel Accommodation experience in the Heart of the Franschhoek Valley | FCH <<

Oh, we just love this place, and the welcome from the proprietor [no less!] and several senior members of staff made it feel like a Royal visit! Our earlier request for the room we had last time was, indeed, honoured … and more importantly it was available at 1230 instead of the normal check-in time of 1500. Oh, happiness! Our cases were conveyed to our room while we sat in the garden and refreshed ourselves with some of the local produce. At which point, a waiter arrived with 2 glasses of complimentary champagne! It seemed churlish to refuse





The room you may have seen previously, but I’ll chuck in a few images anyway … lovely Room, lovely view, huge balcony, lovely grounds … all immaculately maintained.









On our first night we cheated, and popped next door to the Village Grill and Butcher >> Village Grill & Butcher | Franschhoek ? Village Grill & Butcher | Franschhoek << for a quick dose of local country food. The Gorgonzola and Fig stuffed fillet steak was irresistible, and utterly delicious, as were the 250ml carafes of local Shiraz.







After which it seemed time to wander the 25 yards back to the hotel and … zzzzzzzzz


Wed 20 Dec

Yawn … stretch … what a wonderful night’s sleep! Coffee and biscuits on our balcony, admiring the view, and gently stumbling into something resembling ‘awake’

The hotel does an very nice [and sophisticated] range of hot breakfasts, and has a dazzling display of cereals, fresh fruit and Continental breakfast options. If I had one tiny criticism, ZA doesn't seem to do very interesting bread.







Now this is, IMO, a SERIOUS Breakfast Buffet!



Hot options from the Menu






A quick trip into the Village on the free shuttle led to us wandering happily around for a couple of hours before grabbing some refreshment at the well hidden “Elephant and Barrel” pub, in a courtyard off the main street >> Elephant & Barrel Village Pub ? The only English Pub in Franschhoek. <<. The Western Cape is NOT just about wine, even in the Winelands



Returning home, we booked Adriaan for our return journey to airport - he quoted 450R, a slight improvement on the 1,000R we were charged last year! Exhausted by all our activity, we settled down by the pool for a couple of hours, and were delighted to find 2 glasses of un-ordered free champagne materialising! And so onward to dinner at the in-house Monneaux Restaurant .. Monneaux Restaurant - Award Winning Restaurant Franschhoek << for some ‘posh dining’.

At this stage I must note that, for a variety of odd reasons, our experience there last year was less than stellar. However, this time it could not be faulted in any way - were we being specially treated as compensation?? Whilst enjoying our pre-prandial drinks outside in the garden, 2 more glasses of free champagne materialised (!) and shortly afterwards we were escorted to our decorated table by our wonderful waiter, Foster.





Following a short conversation with Foster, we decided to pass on the Chef’s Menu and instead went for a selection of Petite Assiettes >> Monneaux Restaurant Menu - Monneaux Restaurant <<. Foster assured us that they were about half the size of normal serving, and that 3 each would probably do nicely! OK, much examination of the options ensued, with decisions being made and overturned in an instant before we finally made our choices. What was staggering was that Foster could recite the ingredients of everything single dish on offer - what a memory!!

For Him:
Smoked Octopus
Chicken & Prawn Curry
Springbok Steak … I apologise again to Foster and Chef for calling it “Road-kill of the day”








For Her:
Line Fish of the Day
Lamb Cutlet
’Duckchetta’ - which turned out to be a lovely piece of duck, with accompaniments.







I think that was one of the nicest meals we've ever had on our travels, and compared well with some of the Michelin* ones we've had at home in Jersey. Washed down with wine, and finished with coffees [and a Brandy for me], the bill was just 690R/£40

Thu 21 Dec

Our last full day, and guess what … a cloudy morning. “This will not do”, they cried, and after breakfast settled into the comfy armchairs with Kindles and coffee Annoyingly, and NOT the hotel’s fault, the Internet connection to Franschhoek was having one of its worst days … constantly dropping out, as the hotel’s WiFi tried to find a functioning server [I saw 3 while checking SpeedTest] and only getting a download of 0.3mbps.



We sort of wasted the day, really, until 1600 when we made our way to the Village Grill for our last ZA meal. A gorgeous Ribeye Steak for me, and the LineFish [yes, it’s Kingclip today] for her, accompanied as usual by the finest potato wedges we’ve ever encountered!





We later spent over 30 minutes trying to check in on-line for the next evening’s flight … given the slow connection this was obviously confusing ba.com, as at one point it generated for me an unrequested E-Boarding pass We gave up, and went to bed!