REPORT ON TIME OUT NOVEMBER OUTING
Bloomia & Opstal
A wonderful turn out of 38 eager people to visit the Breedekloof area on the last Thursday of November! Fabulous to see so many people; and the weather played along! Clear skies and temperatures in the late 20’s predicted for the day.
The Breedekloof area, which is just the other side of the Du Toitskloof tunnel is one of our favourite areas in the Western Cape. The magnificence of the mountains, vineyards galore and even a few streams to add to a perfect picture indeed.
Our first stop was the Le Domaine Farm just outside Rawsonville. This farm has been recently purchased by Bloomia, an international company which manages the growing of tulips throughout the world. So wonderful to see that South Africa numbers amongst Holland and the USA where they also grow tulips. The farm has a contract with Woolworths, being their main clients! They operate 7 days a week to keep up with their contract to supply the tulips countrywide. They also supply limited quantities to Spar and a few other outlets. We were taken through the various cool rooms (one even down to a 1-degree level) to keep the bulbs as cold as possible to trick them into not flowering until they want them to! We were able to purchase tulips and how lovely it was to come home with a fresh bunch or two!
A few of the ladies were disappointed that we never got to go into the hothouse where the tulips are flowering, BUT I guess now that the farm has grown so, it can be appreciated that they need to keep the area sterile and having so many people walking through, could be a problem.
After this we headed back through Rawsonville and onto the Opstal Estate! Another favourite, as every time we go there, we have a wonderful meal coupled with excellent wine and service! Lunch was a delicious salad of Beetroot & feta coupled with salad greens and fresh fruit (strawberries and blackberries) – very refreshing! For mains we were served a Lamb Pie coupled with basmati rice and vegetables.
Christmas cupcakes were handed out to the group for dessert and a few ate theirs straight away. Most packed them up into the cellophane bags provided, to enjoy at at home.
A few of the ladies did wine tasting; The Wild Woman range proving popular (now is it the name OR the taste that made these ladies purchase this wine)?
We left the Estate by 15h15, arriving back in Tableview just after 16h30 and Constantia probably by only 18h00, with the late afternoon traffic.
By the 29th December, Christmas will be a thing of the past, so many of the group were wishing each other well! Carol said that this year has been a tough year for many of the group and that to try to overcome feeling sad over the period we need to spread love around to all those who we are in contact with!