12 things to do in Riebeek Kasteel and the Riebeek Valley

By Roxanne Reid
The history of Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland goes back a long way, as stone-age tools and KhoiSan art found in the mountains around it show. But today it’s a much-loved weekend getaway for Capetonians. Here’s my pick of 12 things to do in Riebeek Kasteel and the Riebeek Valley.

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1. Wine tasting

The original wine cellar at Kloovenburg is now a tasting room where Willie Liebenberg gave us the friendliest and most helpful reception of all our wine and olive visits in the valley. I liked the unwooded chardonnay with its pineapple and tropical fruit flavours. Kloovenburg also grows sauvignon blanc on the mountain slopes. ‘It’s the highest bloc of sauvignon blanc in the Swartland, which is good for the cultivar because it’s cooler,’ said Willie. We also tasted the pink bubbles, shiraz, merlot and cabernet and walked off with a box full of clinking bottles. The bonus - the tasting fee is ignored if you buy some wine. You can also do an olive tasting here or stay at Kloovenburg Pastorie, which was originally the pastorie for the Dutch Reformed church.

If you’re in the mood for more wine, go to Allesverloren, the oldest wine farm in the Riebeek valley, and famous for its port.​

2. Olive tasting

Olive tasting in the Riebeek Valley is seriously tasty business. Local history aficionado Chris Murphy told us that when the Olive Festival launched in 2001, just 2000 people came; by 2016 the number had shot up to about 20 000.

​Visit the Olive Boutique in Kerk Street to discover delicious bottled olives. My favourite kalamatas were in blueberry dressing, or with rosemary and garlic. And in case you were wondering, co-owner Derek van der Riet will tell you there’s no such thing as black or green olives, they’re simply either ripe or unripe.

You can try a range of five different olive oils, from light/delicate (much loved by South Africans and Australians) to Coratina intense, which is the choice of serious tasters in the Mediterranean. Co-owner Susan Aird told me they process about 1.5 tons of olives a day from private producers so it’s a really small operation. ‘Some others can do that in an hour.’

3. Jan Smuts birthplace

The lovely old Cape Dutch house where Jan Smuts was born in 1870 was once on a farm called Ongegund in Riebeek West, a few kilometres down the drag from Riebeek Kasteel. Today it stands on property owned by a cement factory, but is still well worth a visit. It’s furnished as it would have been when Smuts lived here till the age of eight. There are dung floors and rietdak ceilings in the kitchen and passage, but always the sound of grinding from the cement factory, the taste of cement dust on your tongue. A self-professed ‘son of the veld’, Oom Jan wouldn’t want to live here now.

4. Hiking
Both the Pieter de Cruythoff and Carl Thunberg routes on the Kasteelberg cross private land and give good views of the surrounding farmland and Table Mountain in the distance. They were closed when we were there, needing maintenance, but hopefully they’ll be open again when you visit. Check at the tourism office, where you can also get maps and a permit for the hiking trails.

5. Royal Hotel

As far as Riebeek Kasteel accommodation goes, the Royal Hotel claims to be ‘the oldest hotel in the Western Cape with the longest stoep south of the Limpopo’, though this may be more marketing gimmick than fact. (Licensed in 1834, Houwhoek Inn certainly predates it, though the Royal sure does have a long stoep.) Although the hotel has its origins in the mid-1800s and the date inscribed on the gable is 1862, the facade we see today was only built in 1929. History aside, it’s a great place for tea or drinks on the stoep while you watch the world go by. Don’t miss gin-and-tonic happy hour between 5 and 6 pm every day.

6. Short Street

Opposite the Royal Hotel you’ll find what looks like a collection of old buildings in a small square. Called Short Street, its Karoo-style architecture is in fact only about ten years old, an inspired plan to create what has turned out to be one of Riebeek Kasteel’s most visited tourist attractions. Here you’ll find Garagista, one of two craft breweries in the town, some clothing and bric a brac shops, and a fresh veg store called Crisp. Visit the Farmacy, dubbed the ‘smallest nursery in the universe’, a wine bar, and the rustic Eve’s Eatery with its red-and-white checked tablecloths. You’ll also find the Wine Kollective selling boutique wines of the Swartland, but we had our only unfriendly encounter with a Riebeek Kasteel shopkeeper here.

7. Beans About Coffee

When we visited the Beans About Coffee roastery in Fontein Street we were lucky to meet Kelston. Although he confessed he’d only worked here six months and used to drink Ricoffy (horrors), he was friendly and willing to chat about his new-found passion – anything from raw beans to roasting and blending, or how to make a good cup. Some of the beans here include Cuba, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and their house blend of South and Central American beans called Sidewalk. ‘I promise it doesn’t actually come from the sidewalk,’ he grinned. The Colombia decaf goes through a carbon dioxide process that removes 99% of the caffeine but doesn’t alter the taste. Regular decaf drinkers will know that’s a big deal.

After you enjoy your blend of the day, you can buy some beans, most of them at around R300/kg (in November 2016). ‘The best place to grow coffee is at altitude and with humidity, so Jamaican Blue Mountain is now considered the best in the world but it sells for R3000/kg,’ said Kelston. For obvious reasons, Beans About Coffee doesn’t stock it.

8. MTB biking
You can either just bike around the village to explore at your own pace or tackle one of the bike trails: the Riebeek Kasteel farm road trail or the Riebeek West farm road trail. Both give you views of vineyards, wheatfields and the Kasteelberg. Ask at the tourism office in Plein Street on the town square for a brochure, maps and permit.

9. Old Oak Manor and Cafe Felix

Our Riebeek Kasteel accommodation for the night was Old Oak Manor in Kerk Street, in one of four bedrooms in the main house, which dates back to 1856. A fire was burning when we arrived in the rain and our old-fashioned bedroom opened on to a small patio with table and chairs. There’s a modern garden cottage and a loft above the restaurant that would be my preferred choices next time.

A 150-year-old oak tree provides shade in the courtyard between the house and Cafe Felix. It’s a lovely place to chill and dream of French pavement cafes. We had a delicious dinner (think slow-roasted lamb or pork belly) in the conservatory one quiet Thursday night. Our waitress said they had a curry night on Wednesdays and pizza night on Fridays that were much busier. We came to a beautiful wedding reception at Cafe Felix a few years back and the whole of Riebeek Kasteel was packed. If you can, try to visit during the week when it’s calmer.

10. Game drive at Bartholomeus Klip

Go for a game drive followed by brunch at Bartholomeus Klip, a country lodge on a working farm and nature reserve south-east of Riebeek Kasteel. Here responsible tourism holds sway, with a commitment to the environment and local community. We saw eland, bontebok, red hartebeest and zebra that looked a bit like quagga, with white rather than striped bums. Guide Werner said they’ve been trying to breed a quagga with DNA recovered from a quagga skin at Iziko museums. Now they’re using selective breeding to breed for fewer stripes. ‘There would need to be 50 breeding females to say it’s a viable breeding population,’ he said. ‘We have about 30, but they’re more Burchell’s than quagga.’

A devastating fire in the nature reserve in 2012 killed about 300 geometric tortoises, one of the world’s rarest reptiles. An exclusion plot was set up for the survivors, electrified to protect them from crows, feral pigs and baboons. Hatchlings are monitored in a separate camp. ‘They’re about the size of a R5 coin when they’re born,’ said Werner. The survival rate here is about 20 a year so it will take a long time to replace the 300 lost in the fire. They’re fully grown at about 6-7 years and live to about 30.

Your guide will point out plants as well as animals. The nature reserve consists of fynbos and renosterveld and has 10 red data plant species, four of them endemics. It was declared a natural heritage site in 1988.

11. Goedgedacht

Goedgedacht off the R46 near Riebeek Kasteel is an olive farm with a difference. At its heart is a community development trust devoted to tackling climate change and poverty among rural youngsters. The farm has more than 13 000 olive trees and income from the olives and olive oil, together with hefty fund-raising campaigns, helps to run the Path out of Poverty programme that feeds and mentors young people. ‘We reach some 10 000 people a year,’ PR and marketing dynamo Lara Scott told me. They also have environmental, youth leadership and microenterprise programmes.

Visit the farm to buy Goedgedacht olive oil (you can also find it at Woolies and Pick n Pay), or stay over – it’s popular for weddings and retreats. An 84km Tour de Goedgedacht to Franschoek fun ride is being planned for 2017.

12. Stay over

There are more than 130 places that offer accommodation in the Riebeek Valley. They range from self-catering to B&B and full-service lodges and hotels, from historic or romantic to modern, from budget-friendly to luxurious. With so much to do in the valley, you simply have to stay for at least a night or two.

Other things to do in Riebeek Kasteel include visiting the Flagship craft brewery, a small museum in the old Dutch Reformed church, art galleries, pretty shops (great for gift shopping), and a host of restaurants and wine bars. Drop in at the Riebeek Valley tourism office in Plein Street to get answers to all your questions about the valley.

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