The Swartland village of Darling was Hopping on Saturday. We enjoyed the Taste of Darling Country Festival in a blast of Indian Summer heat. 36ºC at what should be the threshold of winter.....
Bales to sit on and umbrellas for shade at the end of the Main Road which had been closed off
Wine and gin and tonics for
sale of the stoep of the Charles Withington's Darling Wine Shop. Wine and spirits could only be
bought by the glass, no sampling
Seating and lots of enjoyment for all ages
A duo playing well known rock
tunes livened up the atmosphere
Inside the Udderly Delicious
cheese shop everyone wanted to taste the cheese just voted best in SA at the
South African Dairy Championship 2017. It is a soft Italian style cheese called
Caciotta. It resembles a tangy brie when fresh but then gets a harder skin and
matures
Cakes to buy for lunch?
It was busy inside Charles’
shop
We headed for the local butcher
to buy some of his good meats, farm butter and charcuterie - we recommend it
It was very hot indeed (over 36ºC), so we
needed to quench our thirst and headed to the Darling Brewery
Under the tent at the entrance, enjoying the food and beer
The charcuterie platter
A line up of the beers in the
kitchen area
Upstairs is the popular bar/restaurant, looking down at the brewery. Lots of tables had been reserved and some people
either turned up very late or not at all, rather selfish.
What was once a micro brewery
has fast grown in popularity and impressive size
It was one of many venues that
also hosted an art exhibition with the money going to local charity
We loved these witty pottery
sculptures
How you feel when it’s hot?!
Momma!
It was a family day
Seating at the bar
A beer tasting costs R10 per 100ml,
while 500ml cost R30 to R35 and lunch looked good
We wondered if these demijohns were
old or new? Good decoration
Our two cold ones. A Thunder
Bird IPA for Lynne, full of citrus and granadilla flavours and a Silver Back “Black
Wit”, a new black wheat beer for John
We shared one of the long
tables and ordered lunch. These lads on our table said they didn’t like beer
much. Well they were certainly trying to disprove that
"What haven't we tasted
yet..?"
This was much better than it looks.
A huge slice of ciabatta, a flash fried minute steak, slightly overcooked but
with good flavour, on a bed of super caramelised onion jam and topped with a
creamy mustard sauce. And those chips were glassy crisp. Didn’t eat much of the
bread, no need; it was very satisfying
John had the hamburger and
chips. Good grilled cheese, a bowl of
the mustard sauce and the same sweet onion jam. Also a little overdone, but
good
Our bill
Also on the menu were kebabs
and a Greek salad, also sticky ribs
Kids having fun, so was the
photographer
Whose is the 2.5 metre 8 year old?
Off back into town to Evita se
Perron
A walk in the park
A stumble around the museum of
Apartheid horrors
And a chance to admire the
portraits of Tannie Evita in various famous artists' styles
The Perron has a Cafe and the
restaurant/theatre where a performance was taking place
and who should we meet?
Friendly folk from Wellington: Winemaker James McKenzie and Adele Strachan from
Nabygelegen
at which point the heat got the
better of us and we headed home
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
