Durban - Berghouse Cottages in the Northern Drakensberg was the perfect venue for the family get-together we had planned for a recent holiday.
Three hours from Durban and three hours from Joburg, it was accessible to us all – and the stone cottages were varied enough to accommodate all the permutations our family demanded. No mean feat as there were six siblings and wives, children of various ages and tiny grandchildren.
We took two big cottages, which were large enough to accommodate two families, and which featured several bedrooms, a variety of ablution facilities, a large kitchen/lounge open plan area, a veranda and braai area.
A two-bedroom cottage comfortably accommodated myself, my daughter and her fiance. It had a veranda, a kitchenette and two bathrooms.
Finally, for a single sibling there was a charming and very stylish one-bedroom cottage with veranda, and so on.
Log fireplaces can be found in each cottage with wood provided at a small fee when the weather gets cold – and judging by pictures we saw, it can get very cold with lots of snow.
All the cottages, set in very pretty and lush gardens, have lovely views from the verandas over the distant misty mountains.
They contained all the equipment needed for self-catering (bed and breakfast facilities also available).
The cottages are more about home comforts and quirky decor than five-star plush furnishings. Which was fine by us. We weren’t looking for matching Biggie Best bedspreads and pelmets.
Berghouse is owned by Vaughn and Chantal Piccione. Vaughn comes from farming stock, while Chantal concentrates some of her energies on breeding miniature horses. The children in the family were enchanted by these charming creatures who nibbled happily all day long on the lush grass in their paddocks. They were tame enough to nuzzle apples from small hands.
Horse riding – on bigger horses of course – is also available as are some lovely walks, ranging from the gentle to the arduous. There are also mountain biking trails and tubing.
If you want to explore beyond the estate, Berghouse is seen as the Gateway to the Northern Drakensberg. Not far is the highest peak of the Drakensberg, Champagne Castle, as well as Monks Cowl and Cathkin Peak. All can be seen from Berghouse Cottage.
Royal Natal National Park, recently proclaimed a World Heritage Site, is 16km away and offers some of the most scenic Drakensberg hiking trails. The main feature of the park is the Tugela Waterfall.
Also close by is a Zulu craft workshop, an adventure centre.
Despite all these possibilities I was happy to spend all my time at Berghouse just reading – it was that peaceful and relaxing.
Because there is not a lot for young children to do on the Berghouse estate you need to take games and other activities. There is no swimming pool, although there is a river close by, and no TV either.
None of this bothered us at all as it’s rare that my siblings can all come together in one place, but we still took a variety of games, Scrabble, crocquet and so on.
Teenagers not into outdoor activities may be a little harder to please, so keep that in mind if you are planning to take a brood of them.
Vaughn and Chantal are a charming and friendly couple. As it turned out their parents and our parents were close friends more than 40 years ago, but we had long ago lost contact, so it was great to discover we shared some childhood memories.
l Cell: 082 804 8784
l P304 Northern Drakensberg, Bergville
l E-mail: [email protected]
l Web: www.berghouse.co.za - Sunday Tribune