We were warned that before arriving for our stay at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse in the Drakensberg, that we should not eat anything, preferably for days. My colleague Christie Fynn and I were almost at the end of our gourmet Midlands Meander (a foodie road trip through the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands for a story in the August 2011 issue of Getaway Magazine) when we drove along beautiful country roads underneath the Drakensberg mountains on our way to Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse. We’d already put on about five kilograms in as many days of the trip, eating our way (literally) through the Midlands. So, even though we skipped lunch on the day we arrived at Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse, we were hardly starving. Nevertheless, we made space for the sublime country food that has made Cleopatra famous.
Tucked in the Kamberg Valley under the Drakensberg Mountains, Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse is owned and run by Richard and Mouse Poynton, whose love for country living and food permeates through every corner of this charming farmhouse. The 11 rooms are individually decorated, with unique themes, such as Natal history and cowboys. The cosiness of the farmhouse means that you feel like you’re staying in someone else’s house and not a hotel: there are comfy couches dotted with sleeping cats in front of fireplaces, family history walls and quirky decorations (sieves as lampshades and other cute kitchen-inspired touches).
You can curl up with a book in front of the fire, or on the deck overlooking a small dam, or go for walks in Highmoor Nature Reserve, a 10-minute drive away, horse rides on a nearby farm, or do trout fishing in Cleopatra’s streams (the farm sits on 500 acres of land). While there’s lots to do during your stay at Cleopatra, it’s really the food that people come here for.
Richard (a contender for a Santa Claus lookalike and a funny, charming entertainer) is in the kitchen every day, coming up with his unpretentious country dishes for the famous seven-course dinners, which start each evening with Richard’s lively introduction to the menu (complete with Anglo-Boer War battle stories and tales of family history). Richard’s food philosophy is “˜no foams, seaweed or jellies – just real food, real flavour.’ And that’s certainly what it is: think creamy smoked salmon bisque, roasted tomato soup, Mediterranean roast peppers, roast springbok loin with fondant potatoes, and pears baked in puff pastry drizzled in butterscotch sauce (Richard refers to the pudding as ‘the kind of pudding grandma would have made before she snuffed it’.).
Each dish is prepared with care and you can tell that cooking is a labour of love for Richard. Just get him started on the subject of food, and he’ll enthusiastically talk about stocks, sauces and the art of French cooking. It sounds cheesy to say he’s really passionate about food, but it’s true. A quick tour of his and Mouse’s gorgeous farmhouse (a couple of kilometres away from where guests stay) reveals a much-used country kitchen adorned with copper pots and pans and piles of cookery books, which Richard says he reads like novels. We were lucky to have Richard and Mouse take us around their newly-built hothouse, where they’re growing microherbs, salad leaves and veggies which they use in the restaurant.
As someone who is really interested in where food comes from, I was fascinated to talk to Richard and Mouse about where they source their ingredients from: eggs from their chickens, meat from local organic producers, fresh produce from their garden, and everything else from Woolies. They are both keen on organic gardening, and are planning to start offering organic gardening weekend courses to guests.
Your stay at Cleoptra pretty much revolves around food: while dinner is the highlight, breakfast is also a gourmet treat. After a late dinner with a significant amount of wine, breakfast is mercifully late so you have time to walk up the mountain and burn off some of the previous night’s dinner. I got up just as the sun was rising to walk to the edge of the property, half-way up the mountain that overlooks the farmhouse. In that time, I worked up a bit of an appetite so I was pleased to find that breakfast is a hearty three-course affair (fresh fruit and yoghurt; freshly-baked black-cherry muffins and croissants; scrumptious bubble and squeak served with a poached egg, ham and mustard sauce). After breakfast, most people take a packed lunch and hit the mountains for a day of hiking (and more calorie burning).
A stay at Cleopatra is certainly not going to help your diet (don’t pack your tightest pair of jeans for the trip) but it is a real foodie gem and a peaceful, romantic Drakensberg retreat that you will want to come back to as soon as you’ve left.
Contact details and rates for Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse:
Tel 033-267-7243, [email protected], www.cleomountain.com
Winter rates start at R1250 a person, including dinner, tea and breakfast. Cleopatra also offers cooking courses.
Cleopatra has just introduced a gardening course where you can learn how and what to plant, how to make biodegradable pots, how to creat polytunnels and mini greenhouses and about natural pesticides. This year the course will take place on 19 and 20 September and on 5 and 6 December. The course costs R2900 a person (sharing) and includes one night’s accommodation at Cleopatra, all meals and the two-day course. Day visitors can do the two-day course for R2000, which includes lunch, tea and coffee for both days.
Cleopatra Mountain Farmhouse recipes (all taken from their fabulous cookbook, only available at the farmhouse):
Puff pastry pears and butterscotch sauce
Chocolate tart with orange ice cream
For my top 10 foodie spots on the Midlands Meander, read my blog.
Read about my foodie road trip through the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands in the August 2011 issue of Getaway Magazine.
