A group of 24 headed out to Bakenhof on a sunny Thursday! Bakenhof lies on the outskirts of Wellington and they grow export grapes on the farm. Initially we were looking forward to being able to pick grapes – however, with slight rain the previous week we were told the night before that it would be easier to buy the grapes ready picked.
On arrival Bakenhof had set out jugs of juice and boxes of popcorn – a very welcoming thought after our journey.
The approach to Bakenhof is along a tree lined driveway. There is no problem with access to their packing room where the delivery trucks obviously can come and go with ease! However, to get up to the venue there is a 500m driveway with trees that have not been pruned in many years. In fact, my memory of arriving at Bakenhof when Time Out visited in 2010 was one of a long drive with this magnificent house at the end of the drive. Sadly this was not the case on this visit as the trees block the view of the house completely!!
The major disappointment was when our coach driver was denied access to turn the coach around in what has now become private property next to the venue. He was forced to reverse down the drive! Not an easy feat considering he had a 52-seater coach! However, full marks to him for coping admirably. It has been suggested that Bakenhof puts proper signage at the entrance about the difficulty of coach access. Had this been explained to us, an easier option would have been to have our welcome drink in their packing shed!
Their venue room is magnificent and the staff at Bakenhof we dealt with were most courteous and helpful. Pity about management of this estate – it left a sour taste with all of the people present!
Our next stop was at Floreal Brasserie on the R44 at Marianne Estate, where Ian Lilley, who originally hails from the UK, has recently taken over the restaurant. We were served Grilled fillet of salmon with a galette of ratatouille vegetables with lemon yoghurt – a fitting ladies lunch! This was rounded off with the Marianne cheesecake, served elegantly in long wine glasses.
Everyone rounded their day off with a bit of gathering at the Pot Belly Deli on the R44 – always good to go home with fresh produce. Their butcher has a good variety of product – the pork looked exceptional and many purchases were made.
Fortunately the traffic was not too intense which had the Constantia people being dropped off at just after 4.00pm and Tableview just before 5.00pm.