Roxanne Reid
  • Home
  • Book author
    • Travels in the Kalahari >
      • Photo gallery: Travels in the Kalahari
      • Book reviews: Travels in the Kalahari
    • A Walk in the Park >
      • Photo gallery: A Walk in the Park
      • Book reviews: A Walk in the Park
    • The Essential Guide to Self-Editing >
      • Book reviews: Essential Guide to Self-Editing
    • Betrayed
    • Book reviews online
  • Editing & proofreading
  • In the media
    • Travel features
    • Health features
    • Online media
    • Media kit
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Contact

3 reasons to visit Willowmore in the Karoo

29/12/2011

3 Comments

 
Sophie's Choice, Willowmore, Karoo
There are lots of reasons to visit the Karoo town of Willowmore. But if you want to have a great lunch or tea, browse some antiques and objects d’art, and also buy some deli products to take home with you – all in the same place –you’d best head for Sophie’s Choice on the main drag.

Sophie's Choice, Willowmore, Karoo


We loved the coffee shop for its delicious cappucino and fresh scones that were light as a feather. (It does lamb shanks and burgers and lots more too, to satisfy the lunch crowd.)

We especially loved the elegance of the antique tables with their silver jugs of fresh roses. You might prefer to sit on the stoep among wrought iron chairs, pot plants and crystal chandeliers, to watch the passersby, or in the shady garden courtyard at the back, which could have come straight from a small town in France.

But Sophie's Choice is far more than a coffee shop; it’s a deli too, stuffed with Karoo specialities like jams and pickles, gourmet oil and wine. It’s even an antique and object d’art palace. If you can sit still and not want to go exploring through its treasures, you’re a better person than I am. 

Sophie's Choice, Willowmore, Karoo
You might find well-worn leather chairs, a bureau  polished to a fine sheen, a stack of leather-bound books shelved on an old  ladder, even one or two elderly bicycles hung high on the walls with flowers in  their baskets.

Or, depending on what riches owner Sophia van der Merwe has  unearthed recently, you may find fine christening dresses, dressmaker’s dummies, chandeliers, armoires, inlaid tables and a collection of teddy bears. You could almost think of it as a revolving art gallery, where the exhibits change from day to day but there’s always something fabulous urging you to browse and buy.  

You’ll find it on the main road (Knysna Street).

More about the Baviaanskloof

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za

3 Comments
sophia
13/1/2012 10:14:32 am

thanks for great review! it was such a pleasure to read how you experianced my shop. its truely how i want people to see it.
thanks again
sophia

Reply
Roxanne
13/1/2012 10:56:18 am

Pleasure, Sophia. We loved your corner of Willowmore and just wish it was closer to home so we could join the band of 'regulars'!

Reply
Laurianne Hansen link
26/6/2012 03:49:14 am

Found this link while searching Google, thanks

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get email links to the latest posts

    Buy my books
    E-book 2017
    2nd ed e-book 2015
    E-book 2012​

    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    Since 2015, travel buddy and husband Keith has been the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    In this blog you can discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

    Popular posts 

    * Top 5 favourite national parks in South Africa
    ​
    * 15 things to do in Paternoster on the West Coast
    ​​* 15 things to do near Knysna on the Garden Route
    * 8 things to do and see in Sutherland
    * 15 things to do in Hermanus on the Cape Whale Coast
    *​ 17 things to do in Tulbagh, Cape Winelands
    ​​​
    ​Other blogs I write for
    Africa Freak
    Africa Geographic
    Getaway
    Untold Africa

    Categories

    All
    Baviaanskloof
    Berg En Dal Kruger
    Books
    Botswana
    Camping
    Cape Town
    Chobe
    Conservation
    Drc
    Eastern Cape
    Etosha Namibia
    Food
    Free State
    Garden Route
    Gauteng
    Guest Blogs
    Issues
    Kalahari
    Karoo
    Kenya
    Kruger National Park
    Kwazulu Natal
    Lesotho
    Letaba Kruger
    Limpopo
    Linyanti
    Malawi
    Mozambique
    Mpumalanga
    Namaqualand
    Namibia
    Nature Parks
    Northern Cape
    Okavango
    Olifants Kruger
    Overberg
    People
    Photography
    Richtersveld
    Satara Kruger
    Tanzania
    Travel
    Tsendze Kruger
    Videos
    West Coast
    Western Cape
    Wild Creatures
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009


Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za

Privacy Policy and GDPR compliance
​* We promise that we take data safety seriously and use your private data only to offer a personalised experience
* If you subscribed to our newsletter, you will receive our newsletters. You can always unsubscribe by following the link in email or by emailing us
* If you gave us your name, it will only be used to personalise the newsletters
* We have never sold, we are not selling, and we will not sell any of your personal data provided to us
* The blog uses cookies to track activity. It is anonymous except for telling us your location and what you did on our blog
​
Photos used under Creative Commons from berniedup, Lucy_Hill