.: McGregor Country Cottages and Green Gables Mill House Country Inn

Monday, October 26, 2015

McGregor Country Cottages and Green Gables Mill House Country Inn

Our First night: a cottage in McGregor and great dinner out

The Robertson Wine Valley and McGregor Country Getaways organised our accommodation while at the festival and for our first night we did self catering at Country Cottages in McGregor. The country views on the way are lovely

Our home for the night was Orchard cottage, right in the middle of an apricot orchard which will be ripe in a week or two. It is in a gated centre with several other cottages

Our back garden

It has two bedrooms, one with a double bed

and another with two single beds

The lounge and kitchen area is spacious and well appointed. John was delighted to see the television over the fireplace as he was able to enjoy the Rugby, SA playing Wales

We only cooked breakfast the next morning, but it is a very well supplied kitchen

There is a pool in the orchard

We looked on Trip Advisor and read how popular and good Green Gables Country Inn restaurant in McGregor is, so Lynne had booked a table for dinner. We were welcomed by the pianist, professional musician John Hargreaves

John was the Timpanist with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra for years and he also used to make his own wine, which we sold in the shop. In the background is the very friendly owner Jill Meyer. She and her late husband Tiger have run the hotel for 16 years

It is a wonderful old house with eclectic decor. Our table was next to the window

The restaurant was full; it is very popular, so always book. They do put up a lot of people who do the walk through the pass from Greyton. Jill told us that many come intending to walk back the next day, but then get a car back as the walk is quite taxing

We took some older wines from our cellar for our week away, like this bottle of Cordoba 1999 Merlot, and did not have to pay corkage. We are glad we opened this now, it needed drinking. It went beautifully with dinner

There was no menu. It is a set three course meal, but you pay for the courses you eat, so you can skip the starter or the pudding. We skipped the butternut soup starter, as it was a very warm evening, and went straight for the roast pork option. We could have had roast chicken. Just like eating a well prepared Sunday roast. Roast pork, done two ways in a rich meat gravy, crisp duck fat potatoes, carrot ribbons and a sticky sweet, brown sugar dusted, pumpkin fritter which was a great accompaniment to the pork

It is a lovely dining room with lots of art on the walls, some for sale. There is a TV lounge at the end

Dessert did not appeal to us, but we are so glad we said yes to the cheesecake. It is from a secret recipe and is lighter than air with a good caramel topping. Dinner cost us just R100 a head, which we think is marvellous value

You can also dine on the terrace which has views of the garden and the countryside. And, of course, you can stay a night or two. Rates start at R400 pp. Address is Smith St & Mill Street, McGregor, 6708 Phone:023 625 1626