Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse

Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse Highlights

• Lodge type; Lodge
• Location; Tulbagh
• Lodge size; 5 rooms
• Recommended stay; 2-5 nights

Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse Information

• One hour from Cape Town
• Breakfasts and dinners
• High tea
• Nature drives
• Viewing the disease-free buffalo
• The Quagga Project

Introduction

Bartholomeus Klip Farmhouse is unique. There are only five bedrooms in this small hotel, the original homestead on a large private estate which is both a working wheat and sheep farm and a nature reserve with a spectacular mountain backdrop.

Bartholomeus Klip Lodge, in this unexplored region only an hour by car from Cape Town's international airport, you can feel part of the peaceful life of rural South Africa and its clean, crisp air and star-filled night skies.

Reserve Information

The Elandsberg Private Nature Reserve was declared a provincial nature reserve in 2008 in recognition of its importance to conservation. Its botanical value is incalculable since it preserves the largest remaining portions of two highly threatened Renosterveld and Fynbos plant communities.

Ten thousand acres of private nature reserve with over 500 head of game, a working farm with wheat and flocks of sheep on one side and the other buffalo, zebra, and tortoise breeding project;

No more than ten guests at a time enjoy walking, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing and birdwatching, or just to switch off and relax.

Rooms and Suites

Each of the comfortable bedrooms of this Tulbagh Lodge, with their specially made bed linen, generous reading lamps and views onto the garden, has its distinctive style and returning guests often ask for their particular favourite.

The separate suite, converted from farm outbuildings, is spacious and inviting, with a private verandah looking out over the reserve and up to the mountains.

Here you can sit in the evening and imagine yourself in the African heartland, listening to the clattering calls of the guinea fowl as the daylight fades and the owls begin to hoot their night-time warnings.

Cuisine and Wine

The food - in the French tradition but with a local flavour - is one of the highlights of a stay at Bartholomeus Klip.

The dedicated chefs in the kitchen have ensured that as many as possible of the ingredients they use come from the area, such as the locally-produced salmon trout and lamb, and the menus are varied and imaginative.

Lodge Facilities

The gardens at Bartholomeus Klip flourish in the heat of the long summers. Flowerbeds, old oak trees and extensive lawns surround the house, with loungers enticingly set out under umbrellas on the grass, and benches in secluded places perfect for absorbing the relaxed atmosphere.

A wonderfully large circular farm dam has been converted into an amazing salt-water swimming pool, complete with an extensive wooden deck for sunbathing or enjoying sundowner drinks overlooking the nature reserve, where you may spot the quaggas grazing in the evening light as the setting sun turns the mountains pink behind them.

Safari Activities

There are many different things to do at Bartholomeus Klip, although plenty of our guests love to spend their time with us just switching off. However, if you want to do something more strenuous, we provide mountain bikes for cycling through the reserve or along the farm roads through the wheatfields, and there are plenty of fantastic routes to choose for walks.

Down at the dam, guests can take to the water in canoes, or go windsurfing, trout fishing or birdwatching.

Even the most relaxed guest will want to join the guides on the morning and evening game drives through the reserve, where there is always something different to discover.

Family Friendly

Families and children are most certainly welcome, with numerous activities on offer.