Babylonstoren boutique hotel, restaurant and farm sits on 200 acres of remarkable, organic farmlands, orchards, formal vegetable gardens and vineyards which you can explore to your hearts content. Or you can suspend yourself among the big, old trees in the hammock in summer and admire the Buff Orpingtons (very special chickens!). Or, in winter, curl up in front of the fireplace whilst your food is slowly cooking in the Aga.
Guests are invited to join in the harvesting, pruning, planting or picking of our many fruit, herbs, nuts, spices and vegetables.
Go for a run or stroll up the Babylonstoren koppie – the views and fynbos vegetation are worth the effort. Guests may also choose to canoe on the farm dam, cycle through the vineyards and orchards or amble down the spruit which is lined with 7000 clivias (rare plant that only flower once a year!!).
Food is taken very seriously – there is a farm restaurant, Babel, where everything is FRESH and comes either from their garden or the neighboring farms. The food served is organic, unpretentious, clean and a visual dining experience. Then, depending on the season and the weather, meals can be served anywhere on the farm. Over and above the variety of domestic farm fowls and pigeons in the historic Fowl House and the 100 snail-harvesting ducks, Babylonstoren is home to a myriad of bird species. Armed with binoculars, guests spend gentle hours ticking off birds from the farm’s list. A restored farm reservoir to swim in is perfect for hot summer days.
PERFECT HIDEAWAYS in SOUTH AFRICA: Book 1 and 2
Babylonstoren is a perfect example of an ‘on trend’ prediction…. as we move back to our roots, albeit, here, very glam farm roots and without getting our Hunter wellies too dirty!
Babylonstoren had just launched when we published our first coffee-table book. Included for its design-forward thinking and fresh approach to hospitality, we watched the unfolding journey of the estate with joy. By the time Book 2 was to be published, there was a new story to tell. Book 1 is now a collector’s item, but limited copies of Book 2 are still available.
From bush to beach, from city to wilderness, PERFECT HIDEAWAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA is a collection of the most extraordinary havens offering unique experiences, architecture and interiors in exceptional destinations. Travellers today are embracing a new narrative for regenerative travel: how and why we travel, and how much time we choose to be surrounded by our family and closest friends, has become ever more important. But over the years, like that proverbial leopard, our Perfect Hideaways has not changed many of its spots.
PERFECT HIDEAWAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA is a tangible journey into the evolving landscape of our homes, mapping our ways back to the soul. Evoking a renewed vigour with the ways we wish to travel, yet retaining a nostalgic sentiment to simplicity.