Breakfast in the vineyards

Breakfast at Groot Constantia's Jonkershuis - after a brisk dog walk in the vineyards. False Bay and the Hottentots Hollands mountains in the distance. Quintessentially Cape Town.

Autumn colours

Lovely red autumn leaves in the vineyards of Groot Constantia in today's glorious warm April sun. And a few luscious bunches of grapes left on the vines by the pickers. Sorry to harp on about grapes and wine, but it is the season you know.

Leaping lizards and more on ABC Wednesday.

Red, white ... and grey

Yesterday was cloudy and cool - a wonderful Cape Town day to recover from the searing hot Southeaster wind and sun. Groot Constantia Estate is looking magnificent - all the vines are starting to produce grapes, and many of the rows of vines have a rose bush at each end. Popular legend has it that the roses will give early warning of the arrival of a disease or pest, but I hear that it a bit of an urban (rural?) legend. It really does look pretty.

Holiday mood

Brunch at the Jonkershuis restaurant at Groot Constantia Estate this morning. We watched them erecting a tent and laying tables for a wedding tonight - 180 guests all seated at a long table. What a new year to remember! Luckily the wind isn't too strong today but I hope they have a few extra tents ready in case ...

A bit of Constantia history

Walking in the grounds of Groot Constantia this rather blustery morning, I came across this unusual round grave in the middle of the vineyards with Devils Peak and the eastern face of Table Mountain in the distance. On the tombstone in front of it, one of the three rather broken plaques stated that Lambertus Johannes Colyn and his wife Eleanor Mary Coetzer were buried here - Eleanor's death being 2 October 1839 – yesterday 171 years ago. She was famous for riding over a neigbouring farm, Bergvliet, to get to her son's farm – a right of way hotly and expensively contested in the Cape law courts that contributed to the insolvency of the neighbour - and immortalized in the name of the road known today, rather ungrammatically, as Ladies Mile.
Her husband’s father, Johannes Nicolaas Colyn, was famous the world over for his Constantia wine – enjoyed by Queen Victoria and Napoleon, and praised in the writings of Dickens, Austin, Dumas, Longfellow and Baudelaire.
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Our Estate

It rained last night and the sky looks grey and ominous - but we decided to go for an early morning walk at Groot Constantia Estate which is a working wine estate held in trust for the people of South Africa. Its history stretches back to 1685. This is the old manor house - one of the classic gracious Cape Dutch houses of the Western Cape. It is open to the public and has some fantastic walks, restaurants and a cellar where one can taste wine and go for a tour of the winery.

Half man, half fish

Reflected in the Cape Dutch pool at the top of the avenue of oaks at Groot Constantia wine estate, is the figure of Triton - half man, half fish - the son of Neptune. It was probably built much later than the main house - possibly in the early 1800s. (The original Triton was replaced with a fibreglass copy in 1985 in order to preserve the original.)
I will be away for a few days in a place where there is no Internet so this is my theme day blog a bit early.
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Pink at night ...

A late evening walk in the vinyards of Groot Constantia in the mild June weather.