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Grande Roche
Paarl, Cape Winelands
- Relais et Chateaux Hotel and Gourmand Restaurant
- Restored listed manor house in a working vineyard in Paarl
- Facilities to keep you out in trouble for weeks on end
Not lightly does the Relais et Châteaux group admit members to its elite ranks, but the Grande Roche in Paarl would have barged in without so much as a ‘By your leave.’ This small country hotel offers – in double doses - the Character, Courtesy, Cuisine, Charm, and Calm that the prestigious association demands.
The listed manor house has been restored to its former glory with thatch, bare logs for roof beams and thick reeds for ceilings. But if you’re thinking rustic, country charm, you’d be in for a surprise. Victorian drapers would have withered at the elaborate patterns and scandalous colours that each room has been dumped with and the juxtaposition is at once jarring and refreshing.
The range of modern facilities is astounding but make for dull reading – this is a Relais property so you’ll know what to expect – and the rooms and suites are suitably sumptuous and want for nothing.
Food and wine is the focal point of everything and, while you may prefer the casual art deco of the Allegro Bistro, your experience at Bosman’s will be one to remember.
Regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world, and itself granted the coveted Relais stamp, Bosman’s offers an out-of-this-world dining experience. From twelve course tasting menus to dedicated a la carte seafood offerings, you’d have a hard time guessing what country you were in. And the cellar, with 6,000 bottles, requires some pretty smart sommeliers, of which there are many, to help you pair up solids with liquids in an altogether pleasing extravaganza of the senses.
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Type: Hotel
Rates from: R1000pp sharing
Status: Doused in Fairy Dust
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While part of the massive estate juts into the centre of Paarl, the country hotel feeling is enhanced by the lush gardens, vineyards and mountain views. |
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Historic Cape Dutch restorations and gritty wine farms laze beneath the steely gaze of gigantic granite outcrops and soaring peaks. |
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