It was my first road trip outside Cape Town in many months, I realised, not having left Cape Town in a year, other than a short business trip to Stellenbosch earlier during Lockdown. The reason for the trip was an opportunity to see the wild flowers of the West Coast, particularly spectacular this year due to the heavy winter rains, on the Waylands Farm private nature reserve outside Darling, owned by John and Jeanette Duckitt. It became a mini Huguenot High School Matric English class reunion, this being our 50th anniversary of leaving school, and celebrating 62 years of five of us having started school together in Wellington 62 years ago.

Jenny Stephens and I decided to make a little road trip out of our reunion, and combined a number of stops and experiences on our two day break. We were very grateful to stay at Waylands Guest House, so planned the trip to incorporate a stop at Prim Reddy’s Indian Chapter in Bloubergstrand, to explore Darling again, and to see the wild flowers on Waylands.

Bubbly Chef Prim is a Restaurateur of note, her Indian Chapter having been recognised as the Best Indian restaurant in the Cape by Eat Out for four years running. Having done a tribute to Women Restaurant owners for Women’s Month, Chef Prim was one of those recognised, so we stopped at her very new restaurant building in Bloubergstrand to present her with a bottle of ADHARA extra virgin olive oil. Chef Prim very kindly invited us to experience a taste of her Indian dishes, a spicy start to our Road Trip. Yesterday I posted a story about our visit to Indian Chapter, and the meal we enjoyed.

Extraordinary Chef Prim Reddy starts a new chapter with Indian Chapter Restaurant!

From Blouberg we drove up north on the R27, the road not being very busy, passing Atlantic Beach, until we took the Darling turn-off. On our way into the village we saw a number of cars parked at the side of the road, stopping to look at fields of Blue Flax with a backdrop of Canola fields. I stopped to take a picture from the side of the road, and we continued on our way into Darling. My next photographic stop was the fun sign welcoming visitors to Darling with the ‘Hello Darling’ sign.

Passing some roadworks into the village, we reached the main road of Darling, looking for Evita se Perron, the fun restaurant and theatre which was established by actor Pieter-Dirk Uys. I’d last been to visit about seven years ago, and felt that little had changed, it feeling a bit dusty and neglected, especially the section with artworks in honour of the actor and his character Evita Bezuidenhout. I walked through the restaurant, no patrons sitting inside, preferring to sit outside on the lovely sunny day. I had heard that the owners of Darling Sweet have taken over the running of the restaurant. There is no welcome to visitors to Evita se Perron, sadly. Jenny and I walked to the next door garden, called the alliterated  ‘Tannie se Tuin’ (Aunt’s Garden), but it too looked dusty from the gravel road running alongside it, and there was nothing pretty or flowering in the garden, sad as a village renowned for its wild flower bounty.

We headed for Darling Brewery, its location in the industrial area being well sign posted. It seemed a large operation, based on the size of the building, and again there was no welcome or indication of what the company offers. We landed up in the downstairs restaurant, where one can be seated inside and outside, and then made our way upstairs to the Tasting Room, again with no information provided proactively. It was a disappointing visit. The only thing I picked up was that Darling Brewery makes a range of craft beers, more than ten,  none of which I recognised from the display of beer bottles on its counter.

We wanted to visit Darling Sweet next, having been told that it is close to the Engen Garage, on Long Street, but driving up and down we could not find the street anywhere near the petrol station. We were told that it is a worthwhile visit, with an art gallery attached to it too, and being able to taste its toffees. I love toffees, but have a bad history of them breaking my teeth, so I was happy to hear from Jeanette that they are now making soft toffees too. They sell their products in colourful packaging. Darling Sweet probably is the most thriving and dynamic business in the village, so we were sorry to have missed it.

We had noticed what seemed the only coffee shop in the village, called The Marmalade Cat, and decided on a tea stop here. I am a recent cat owner, mine being marmalade too. It has a spacious interior, and an outside courtyard, which was almost fully occupied, it doubling up as a Home Decor shop too, items grouped by colour. They sell home-made preserves, at very reasonable prices, I buying a bottle of Youngberry Jam and a small Apple jelly. We ordered tea (R20) and a scone (R48) to share, the latter served with grated cheese, strawberry jam, and butter. Very good value. I loved the fresh lavender on the table.  The owner of the shop was operating her till close to our table, and told us how run off the feet she and her staff are, having been so busy in the past three months, they having started preparing frozen meals, and are open on Friday evenings to serve pizzas. They have a number of cake and sweet treat options on offer too.  A problem with our bill was entrusted to me to sort out, in calculating the correct amount for our tea and scone, and the preserves.

Not one of the three stops in Darling followed Covid restaurant regulations, in measuring one’s temperature, sanitising one’s hands, and in completing a diner register.

We checked into our rooms at Waylands guest house, a happy reconnection with Jeanette and John Duckitt, and meeting their sweetest brightest John Duckitt Jnr grandson. More tea drinking was followed by a walk on the farm with little John, so that I could get my last steps of the day. Our dinner was a Braai done by son Michael, who runs the Waylands Farm, served with chips, a lovely fresh salad, and mushroom sauce, washed down by a delicious Duckitt red wine blend produced by Cloof Wines outside Darling. An absolute spoil. The building which houses the guest house dates back to the late 1800s.

There was more eating for Breakfast the next morning, a fruit salad with yoghurt and cereals followed by a full English Breakfast. We hadn’t finished eating when Elaine and Conrad Wegelin from Betty’s Bay arrived with Bev Bestbier, completing our group of five female class mates.  Tea was a catch up of the good old times, and the size of each of our families, sharing the number of grandchildren each of us (excluding me) have. This was served with cake which Jenny had brought along from Cape Town.

John introduced the fynbos and renosterbos of the area to us, and explained to us the benefit of their Nguni cattle on the farm, being grazers and browsers.  The benefit of fires for the regeneration of wild plants was mentioned too.  He told us that insects generally are pollinators, not only bees. Interesting is that some plants look exactly the same, despite being different species, due to the same pollinators. We drove into the Waylands private nature reserve in two cars, John being our guide, stopping at various places when he saw an interesting flower to tell us more about.  The Duckitts are very generous in allowing visitors to the area to visit their reserve at no charge. We saw yellow and white daisy fields, contrasting beautifully with lavender Blue Flax, bobbejaantjies (babianas, purple with a red center), frutang (red),  Iris, and many more, a small sample of the 300 species of wild flowers which they have growing in the reserve, of the 1500 species found in Darling, and the 15000 species in the Western Cape. The yellow canola fields form an impressive backdrop to the wild flowers. We even saw a harmless mole snake, sunning itself.

It was time for more eating, a cold lunch served back at the guest house, and a last sharing of past memories.

A lovely 24 hour break with amazing Duckitt hospitality and generosity had come to an end, and we were sent on our way with a stalk filled with beautiful orchids, from Duckitt Nurseries, owned by a relative.

We drove back to Cape Town via Malmesbury, where we stopped at the Peaberry Café, to present a bottle of ADHARA olive oil to Chef and owner Benitha Nel, also having been featured in Women’s Month as a female Restaurateur. She opened her restaurant during Lockdown, making a striking black and yellow appearance on Piet Retief Street, where she serves Sit-Down meals for individual diners, as well as for special events, being very child-friendly with a massive back garden. She offers Food Delivery and Collection too. The Café is the only coffee roastery in the town.  She sent us on our way with a generous bag filled with items from her Deli.

The drive back to Cape Town on the N7 was a breeze, with light traffic. And so ended our break, which felt far longer than just more than 24 hours.

 

Waylands Farm Accommodation and Guest House, Waylands, Darling. Tel 022 492 2873 www.waylands.co.za

 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein, My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein @MyCapeTownGuid

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