Another visit to the Place of Angels - Angala
We loved our first stay at this chic, small Boutique hotel on the slopes of the Simonsberg last year in April and were delighted to be invited back to see the new Spa, have dinner and stay the night. We had a marvellous time in this peaceful and tranquil place. Angala is surrounded by Vrede and Lust and Rupert and Rothschild vineyards. You enter through the Vrede and Lust gate and then drive 3 Km up the mountain, until you come to this lovely guest house with superb gardens and views. They have recently installed a spa and they also have a special Winter Spa package for two. http://www.angala.co.za/
The entrance
The crystal clear green swimming pool flanked with
water lilies, frogs and water plants
Outside the new spa is a small pool and above it, a
hot tub
The sauna inside the spa building
This is the hot tub. We were not tempted to try it
in the very cold weather that day
Aubrey Blignaut, manager of Angala, was showing us
around
The cottage on the far right was where we stayed the last time we
visited
A tree sculpture; there are many in the gardens
Looking up towards the restaurant, the lounge and
the deck
A mountain stream rushing down the hill, filled
with fresh rain water. Angala uses some of the water and the rest goes through
the wine farms below and finally goes into the Berg river
Lots of indigenous wild olive trees on the
property and spring bulbs showing their heads beneath
The small pool at the Honeymoon cottage
With its enormous four poster bed
A quiet corner of their garden
It is fully self catering if required by the
honeymooners,
or they can employ the private chef to cater for them. Or they
can eat at the restaurant
The lounge area
The bathroom with the walled outside shower as
well as one inside
One can imagine a tranquil time in this lovely
cottage
A double cuddling chair in the lounge
Our cottage with its private pool
Our softly textured bedroom with its enormous
bed and high count percale linen
It is also self catering
And has nicely organised space, with the bonus of
the wood burning fire
Our bathroom with its double shower and enormous
tub
They are establishing a vegetable garden and a
perfumed garden outside the cottage
At 7pm, we had dinner in the main restaurant.
Because it was a rather raw night and we were the only people staying that
night, they put our table in front of the fire, a wonderfully comfortable and
romantic place for dinner
This is normally a nice warm nook to sit, next to
the small library
The menu
We chose wine by the glass. There is a more
comprehensive wine and drinks menu
John chose the tomato tart tatin
Lynne the well cooked and spiced calamari and
prawn warm salad. The addition of orange segments was interesting
Because we had that large Mexican lunch at Tuk Tuk,
Lynne chose the vegetarian option of tempura vegetables with a sweet soy dip as
her main course. They were perfectly cooked, lovely and crisp and the dip,
reminiscent of Indonesian Ketjap Manis sweet soy, was a good accompaniment
John chose the Duck breast with cabbage and
walnuts, apple and a red wine glaze
just relaxing over a good dinner
Lynne chose the fruit juice sorbets, three
flavours, citrus, tropical mix and red berry. More granita than sorbet and the
citrus one was the best
John had the trio of chocolate
The chef on duty, Jonathan Swanepoel, came to
introduce himself after the meal, an enthusiastic, friendly young man. The head
chef had the evening off. We think he did a very good job
Next morning after a night of good rain the gardens
looked refreshed and sparkling
A huge carved wooden heart with some carved
toadstools
A tree angel
Time for breakfast. A good selection of cereals,
cheese, meat and smoked salmon
Three different yogurts; most appreciated was the
double thick
Fruit. The berry compote included mulberries and loganberries
and was very good with the yoghurt
Our table by the window
This hammerhead shark sculpture was superbly done
Juice and a pot of good black coffee, and a nice
fire
John’s selection
They have a good selection of breakfast dishes,
Lynne chose scrambled egg and smoked salmon on a croissant
John had a cheese and bacon omelette
Both came
with a rather superfluous sweet balsamic reduction and lots of rocket was on
everything
Ah, the sun finally showed its face at 10 as we
were leaving
The clouds lifting off the Simonsberg mountain
behind the main restaurant and lounge building
The swimming pool was like a mirror and
overflowing with the rain water
And the hot tub in front of the spa was steaming. A
lovely stay in a tranquil place where they know how to look after guests
© John & Lynne
Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
