By Roxanne Reid
People who live in Swellendam know how much there is to do in the area. People who just think of it as a two-hour drive from Cape Town on their way to the Garden Route need a little encouragement to stop and explore. Here are 10 things to do when you visit Swellendam. We spent four days there and barely touched the surface.
People who live in Swellendam know how much there is to do in the area. People who just think of it as a two-hour drive from Cape Town on their way to the Garden Route need a little encouragement to stop and explore. Here are 10 things to do when you visit Swellendam. We spent four days there and barely touched the surface.
1. Bike around town
Hire a bike from the Swellendam Tourist Info centre and explore the town
Swellendam is small and quiet enough to be a pleasurable place to ride a bike. You can hire one at the Tourist Info office near the museum in Swellengrebel Street. You’ll get a map showing some of the major attractions to visit at your leisure, from museums to art and photo galleries, restaurants, the botanical gardens and the unusually lavish 1911 Dutch Reformed church with its eclectic baroque gables and gothic windows.
2. Visit a museum
2. Visit a museum
The Drostdy is the oldest of Swellendam's museums, but don't miss the town's other museums
A visit to the museum precinct on Swellengrebel Street is a must for anyone who enters the ‘republic of Swellendam’. The Drostdy itself dates back to 1747 though it was enlarged in 1813. Because it was both home and office of the Landdrost, it’s quite a formal place. Just down the road is Mayville, built in the mid 1850s but furnished in Victorian style.
On the opposite side of the road is the Old Gaol and Ambagswerf. Two of the cells off the courtyard have been opened to the public, and the Ambagswerf (trades yard) around a water-mill exhibits tools used in the past by craftsmen like wainwrights, blacksmiths, coppersmiths and tanners.
3. Get out into nature
On the opposite side of the road is the Old Gaol and Ambagswerf. Two of the cells off the courtyard have been opened to the public, and the Ambagswerf (trades yard) around a water-mill exhibits tools used in the past by craftsmen like wainwrights, blacksmiths, coppersmiths and tanners.
3. Get out into nature
Marloth Nature Reserve is full of mountains begging to be explored by hikers and mountain bikers
There are two nature reserves in spitting distance of Swellendam. Plants and hiking are the major focus at CapeNature’s Marloth Nature Reserve, with spring a colourful display of mountain fynbos. Go for a short day walk to the waterfall or strike out to the higher peaks for a more strenuous hike of up to 16km and some steep zig-zag sections. If you’re seriously fit, take on the peaks of Tienuurkop (1195m) and Twaalfuurkop (1450m). You can also explore the reserve by mountain bike or on horseback.
Bontebok National Park is SANParks’ smallest park. It doesn’t have the lions and elephants of Kruger, but you might see bontebok, red hartebeest, grey rhebok, steenbok and Cape mountain zebra on a game drive. There are short walks alongside the Breede River, a 9km mountain bike trail to Skilpad dam, and swimming and fishing in the river at Die Stroom, where there’s also a picnic/braai site and lots of space for the kids to play.
4. Go shopping
Bontebok National Park is SANParks’ smallest park. It doesn’t have the lions and elephants of Kruger, but you might see bontebok, red hartebeest, grey rhebok, steenbok and Cape mountain zebra on a game drive. There are short walks alongside the Breede River, a 9km mountain bike trail to Skilpad dam, and swimming and fishing in the river at Die Stroom, where there’s also a picnic/braai site and lots of space for the kids to play.
4. Go shopping
Drop in to Pennantwing for a cup of coffee and to browse its collections for gifts and curios
If you love shopping, you’ll find plenty of places to browse and buy in Swellendam, from an African boutique and antiques to country flowers or a nursery. At Chocolat etc in the Bontebok Tourist Centre near the museum in Swellengrebel Street there are Belgian chocolates, jewellery, gifts and children’s dresses.
Pop in to Pennantwing coffee shop at 5 Swellengrebel Street for an artfully arranged selection of gifts, curios and soft furnishings. If you’re on a diet, wear blinkers near the pastry display because it’s way too inviting. [Update 2016: sadly, this restaurant no longer exists.]
Pop in to Pennantwing coffee shop at 5 Swellengrebel Street for an artfully arranged selection of gifts, curios and soft furnishings. If you’re on a diet, wear blinkers near the pastry display because it’s way too inviting. [Update 2016: sadly, this restaurant no longer exists.]
Calm colours, earthy scents and handmade natural products are the hallmarks of the Rain Africa shop
For beautiful handmade soaps, creams and lotions visit the Rain Africa shop at 274 Voortrek Street. Wild-harvested organic African oils like Kalahari melon, baobab and marula form the backbone of the products, giving them a natural, earthy scent. Packaging is simple but effective and the shop is a feast for the eyes as well as the nose. Almost every product is moulded, woven, carved, poured, wrapped, filled and labelled by hand in an effort to provide employment that lifts people out of poverty. Fair Trade, Beauty without Cruelty and Reduce, Reuse and Recycle principles underpin everything, but you won’t care; you’ll just want to buy a piece of it to take home with you.
5. Get all arty and pottery
5. Get all arty and pottery
Potter David Schlapobersky at work on a series of huge wine jars
Swellendam has a vibrant art community, with a number of galleries, including the gorgeous Flying Horse Photo Gallery and pottery studios. Ask the helpful ladies at the Tourist Info centre to point you in the right direction.
We stumbled by chance into the Bukkenburg Pottery Studio of David Schlapobersky and Felicity Potter at 8 Hermanus Steyn Street. We found David at the wheel working on an enormous jar for storing unwooded wine.
He was happy to chat and show us around, giving us a new appreciation for pottery as art, especially when he explained that it takes 18 hours to get the kiln to the required 1320ºC. ‘Then we have to wait another two days for the kiln to cool down so we can see whether the work’s been successful or not,’ he said. Nerves of steel.
It’s a 100% home industry David's been working at for 40 years, first in Joburg and then in Swellendam from 1996. He does everything himself, even mixing his own clay and making glazes, some of them in the old-fashioned Japanese way, from the ash of materials like canola and bamboo. Felicity does all the brush work, though they plan all their pieces and exhibitions together.
6. Taste honey and see live bees
We stumbled by chance into the Bukkenburg Pottery Studio of David Schlapobersky and Felicity Potter at 8 Hermanus Steyn Street. We found David at the wheel working on an enormous jar for storing unwooded wine.
He was happy to chat and show us around, giving us a new appreciation for pottery as art, especially when he explained that it takes 18 hours to get the kiln to the required 1320ºC. ‘Then we have to wait another two days for the kiln to cool down so we can see whether the work’s been successful or not,’ he said. Nerves of steel.
It’s a 100% home industry David's been working at for 40 years, first in Joburg and then in Swellendam from 1996. He does everything himself, even mixing his own clay and making glazes, some of them in the old-fashioned Japanese way, from the ash of materials like canola and bamboo. Felicity does all the brush work, though they plan all their pieces and exhibitions together.
6. Taste honey and see live bees
See live bees, taste honey and buy something from the range of toiletries
Visit JW Beekeeping, Honey & Equipment near the Tourist Info office in Swellengrebel Street to watch the live bees through glass and learn how they make honey in the comb. Best of all, you can taste 8-10 honeys – from blue gum and strandveld to orange blossom and fynbos – before you decide on a favourite to buy. Good quality and flavour at less than supermarket prices.
7. Visit a berry farm
There are two berry farms just outside Swellendam where you can pick blackberries, youngberries and blueberries in season (November to January). Both The Berry Farm and Wildebraam Berry Estate have tasting rooms where you can sample homemade products like liqueurs, jams, syrups even if you visit out of season.
We’d heard many good things about Wildebraam, so we drove out on muddy roads and helped ourselves to a taste of a few of their jams. But we were really interested in the liqueurs, with the idea of taking them home as gifts unique to Swellendam. As instructed, we asked for assistance and were told in a rather offhand way that they were too busy preparing for a function to give us a liqueur tasting. A great disappointment, so maybe it’s best to phone ahead or try The Berry Farm instead.
8. Take the kids to see the fairies
7. Visit a berry farm
There are two berry farms just outside Swellendam where you can pick blackberries, youngberries and blueberries in season (November to January). Both The Berry Farm and Wildebraam Berry Estate have tasting rooms where you can sample homemade products like liqueurs, jams, syrups even if you visit out of season.
We’d heard many good things about Wildebraam, so we drove out on muddy roads and helped ourselves to a taste of a few of their jams. But we were really interested in the liqueurs, with the idea of taking them home as gifts unique to Swellendam. As instructed, we asked for assistance and were told in a rather offhand way that they were too busy preparing for a function to give us a liqueur tasting. A great disappointment, so maybe it’s best to phone ahead or try The Berry Farm instead.
8. Take the kids to see the fairies
Kids will love to explore the unusual fairy sanctuary in Swellendam
If you have small children, take them to the Sulina Faerie Sanctuary in Buitekant Street to wander around mushroom rings and wishing wells in search of fairies. In reality the garden of potter and ceramicist Minky and Ian Sulin, it’s the sort of place I’d have loved when I was four or five, food for an overactive imagination.
9. Treat yourself to a massage
9. Treat yourself to a massage
Book a massage at the serene day spa next to the Rain Africa shop and you'll leave walking on air
If you enjoyed the natural colours, earthiness and sense of calm in the Rain Africa shop, just wait till you visit the Rain Forest Day Spa next door for a relaxing massage. The décor deceives you into thinking you’re in a forest and the therapists do everything they can to maintain the illusion, moving slowly and silently.
We were treated to the couples’ Elephant Walk massage, an hour of pampering much gentler than the name might suggest. From the tip of the toes to the neck and shoulders, Bianca and Sherleen used calabashes to ‘walk’ up our muscles and release tension. A warm ‘massage candle’ of cocoa and shea butter was poured over us. Apparently it was transporting antioxidants and plants actives into our skin but we didn’t really care; it just felt heavenly. By the time the hammer and chisel came out (it sounds much worse than it is!) we were too blissed out to worry, succumbing to the rhythmic clacking of the wooden instruments that vibrated deep into our muscles.
10. Do a township tour
We were treated to the couples’ Elephant Walk massage, an hour of pampering much gentler than the name might suggest. From the tip of the toes to the neck and shoulders, Bianca and Sherleen used calabashes to ‘walk’ up our muscles and release tension. A warm ‘massage candle’ of cocoa and shea butter was poured over us. Apparently it was transporting antioxidants and plants actives into our skin but we didn’t really care; it just felt heavenly. By the time the hammer and chisel came out (it sounds much worse than it is!) we were too blissed out to worry, succumbing to the rhythmic clacking of the wooden instruments that vibrated deep into our muscles.
10. Do a township tour
You'll get an enthusiastic welcome from the singers and dancers when you do a township tour with Meisie Bokwana
Meisie Bokwana of Ubuhle Besintu teaches local children in Railton about Xhosa culture and keeps them off the streets. If you join a township tour they’ll welcome you with enthusiastic song and dance before Meisie takes you to a shebeen and to visit a sangoma. You can arrange to sample some traditional Xhosa cooking such as Inyama yenkomo or umngqusho too. The tour takes about two and a half hours. Phone Meisie on tel 084-7751269 to book ahead.
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
