The farm itself has a small shop that sells cheese and other nibbly bits. Right next door is the farm's restaurant that serves an assortment of treats, including picnic baskets for two, filled with cheeses, meats, breads and wine. If you're in the area, it's certainly worth stopping in for lunch.
Of course, the alternative is that it's too late at night and I've started rambling nonsensical nonsense! You be the judge. :)
I recently had the opportunity to visit a friend who lives on one of County Fair's farms. County Fair is one of the large broiler rearers in South Africa - to the left of this photo are the large structures that house the chickens.
I have to say that the visit to the farm made me somewhat sad. While I know that many will say "they're only chickens", I can't escape the fact that theirs must be a terrible existence. Kerry-Anne buys only free-range chicken and eggs, and while there's a chance that free-range chickens don't necessarily have a much better life than the non-free-range variety, at least they do get to potter around outside in the sunshine.
Take a moment to visit Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary's blog. The sanctuary rescues farm animals, and the blog tells their stories. (They also have some great farm animal photos :) ).
Years ago, before I was 10, my grandfather owned a farm in the Northern Transvaal (now called Limpopo). This tractor reminded me of our visits to my grandparents over the Christmas period.
I remember two small tractors, similar to this one, that stood on their property, with flat tyres and worn-out engines. The strange thing is that I can also remember the (very distinctive) smell of old oil and grease (from the tractors) baking in the sun, and now as I look at this photo I swear that I can actually smell it again!
Early morning and sunset tractor-rides through vineyards are the best. I've just discovered how difficult it is to find somewhere (near Cape Town) to go on a tractor-ride. But nevertheless I've managed to find a wine estate in Wellington that does just this. Diemersfontein Wine & Country Estate offers tractor-rides for 6 people at 35ZAR per person - including a glass of wine! At that price the cynic in me says that it must be a glass for everyone to share, but Kerry-Anne's convinced that it's a glass per person.
Check out Diemersfontein's website and consider doing some of the other activities, like perhaps a picnic, horse ride or short hike.
Disclaimer: Diemersfontein didn't ask us to write this article, and, in fact, we've never actually been to Diemersfontein. If you decide to go, and then discover that it sucks (which I doubt), please leave a comment and let us know. On the other hand, if it's awesome, please leave some feedback too!
We stopped over at the Durbanville Wine Valley Season of Sauvignon 2009 festival on Saturday. Although Jimbo here wasn't part of the festival, he kept a keen eye on the proceedings while munching on ground-greens. I plucked this juicy, yummy-looking weed from my side of the fence and handed it over.
After only a few nibbles, Jimbo's connoisseur's tongue rejected my offering, and he instead demanded a couple of life's simple pleasures: nose-strokes and head-pats. Horses are so easy to please.