If the last fifteen months have taught me anything, it’s to be creative with week-end getaways and local escapades. It’s been hard not to be able to hop on a plane to London or Paris, but we have been luckier than most in South Africa, and there are so many lovely places to discover it almost doesn’t feel like travel has been restricted. Evidently, limited travel doesn’t mean that the school refrains from sending the children on “holidays” every six weeks, on the contrary! So keeping our two little minis busy and entertained has also been a full-time task lately. Alas we can’t go on safari or to the beach every week, so we mix those with getaways closer to the city, and finding Rosemary Hill and its adorable cabin cluster (CabinVille) so close to Johannesburg was a god-send.
Although Johannesburg feels like a giant forest and the winters here are lovely with the warm light and sunny afternoons, we sometimes miss a little bit of countryside, the kind that you would get from a trip to the Cotswolds or to Provence… It’s all a little urban at times. However, if you drive about an hour to the outskirts of Pretoria, you will find the most lovely farm now revamped into a wedding venue cum B&B. The farm offers more traditional accommodation in cottages, but what is unique is the little pods out in CabinVille: the idea of glamping in a very cool modern cabin just was too good to pass on. This is how we arrived at the Big Pod.
The Big Pod is a two-level cabin where upstairs is a large sleeping and lounging area with beautiful views out to the tree line; the full wood cladding look gives it a wonderful hygge atmosphere and the kids were so excited at a family sleepover opportunity. Downstairs is a double bedroom, a bathroom with the most perfect tiling, and a very well appointed kitchen. Outside is a deck with loungers, space to dine out, and a braai (you’re in South Africa, of course there is a very well functioning barbecue area!).
Whilst the Big Pod feels very open to nature, it is beautifully built and quite warm in the evening, not to mention the fluffy duvets. This did not feel at all like camping and my mind was very far from sleeping bags and communal showers, thankfully. Considering I am not the biggest fan of sleeping in tents and sharing my bathroom space with creepy crawlies this was perfect.
There are lots of things to do on the farm, from exploring the walking and bike paths to going on a horse ride, visiting the farm animals… The Autumn weather is perfect to walk around, as it doesn’t get too hot and the colours are beautiful, especially in the afternoon. The next morning we had signed the munchkins off for a session at Acrobranch, also on the farm, and they had a blast with the zip lines and climbing features.
All in, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Rosemary Hill. It is perfect for a quick one-night getaway from the city, to break out from the routine and enjoy something different as a family.
When we lived in London, one of the countries I covered for work was Spain and I would go to Barcelona almost weekly, without much time to visit properly: I spent my days in meeting rooms, my evenings in restaurants, bars and hotels, always with clients and colleagues, and constantly sped past the gorgeous sights in the city, often telling myself I would come back with time to see everything. So one week-end, to evade what promised to be a snowy Easter in London, Little Monsieur (a toddler at the time), Hubby Dearest and I relocated temporarily to Barcelona’s Hotel Arts and toured the city at length for three full days.
Day One – The Gaudi treasure hunt
The first place I wanted to spend time in was Park Güell: during my very first work visit to Barcelona, I was a junior analyst and I helped organise a majestic dinner for hundreds of clients on top of the terrace of the park, overlooking the city. I was amazed at the beautiful design of the whole place but I was so focused on not messing up with my table settings, who was who and who needed to talk to whom that I hadn’t taken a minute to walk around and look properly… So of course this was our first stop in the city: we took the hop on hop off tour bus (always a favourite for us, especially with a toddler in tow) and, after a short walk up the hill, we finally arrived at the gate. Park Güell is a fabulous place where you could easily spend a whole morning, and there is plenty for little ones to explore, from the columned hall with its doric columns and tiled ceiling (a court that was meant to become a market place for the local community when the park was originally designed) to the more modern playgrounds, but our little tyrant barely gave us enough time to take in all the details, I’ll need to go back when the children are grown up and I have all the time in the world.
After Park Güell, it was time for Hubby Dearest to choose a sight he wanted to see, so we headed back to Passeig de Grà cia to visit a building which is world famous as La Pedrera, also known as Casa Milà . It’s situated on the most fashionable street in Barcelona, in the middle of some of my favourite boutiques, so of course I planned a little shopping tour following our cultural afternoon… The secret of happy family travel, I find, is when everyone gets a little of what they really enjoy.
Like Park Güell, this is another of Gaudi’s creations, and it looks truly magical from the street, inviting a long queue of tourists every day. When we got there just before lunchtime, the queue was going around the block… Ouch! But, here’s one piece of good news for those of you travelling to Barcelona with children: Casa Milà has a priority system for families with buggies, and you can store your pushchair in the locker room before progressing upstairs for the visit. We spent a lot of time on the terrace, which, in line with the rest of the building, is filled with curves and nature-inspired shapes. The chimneys are particularly impressive and Little Monsieur was quite taken with the tiling work and the fabulous shapes… Inside we saw what an apartment would have looked like when the building was built, in 1912, and I found it incredibly modern in its layout, and could have easily moved in had I been given the chance, seeing how beautiful it all looked compared with our London Victorian house!
Of all of Gaudi’s fabulous designs in Barcelona, my favourite is Casa Batlló, it’s almost across from La Pedrera, and though I always thought it looked like a house with eyes, due to the open work balconies, it’s actually known as La Casa de los Ossos, as when one looks at the facade it has quite an organic, skeletal quality to it. Inside there is the most beautiful blue tiled stairwell, and the terrace is just as magical. I never miss an opportunity to admire it when I am in Barcelona, even if just in passing.
Day Two – La Sagrada Familia and Montjuc
The following day was my birthday, so we started slow with a luxurious breakfast at Hotel Arts, with a little card from Little Monsieur (no, my son isn’t that precocious, my husband however is a doting father who never forgets a special occasion, unlike me…) and lots of cuddles. We took off for a morning visit at La Sagrada Familia: remember to order tickets online prior to your visit, that will save you endless queueing on the day. It is well worth it, for the cathedral is unlike any I’ve ever visited before, every little corner filled with artistic detail. Soon enough we boarded the tour bus once more, on the way to the hilly neighbourhood of Montjuïc.
Montjuïc is the home of the Palau Nacional, which was built for the 1929 International Exposition and now houses the National Art Museum of Catalonia. Here we found hundreds of works by Spanish artists, but in reality we were coming for a whole other reason: right under the dome of the museum cum palace, you’ll find an exquisite restaurant, called Oleum, where the food and the decor are truly amazing. With some of the best views over Barcelona from the double-height windows, reflected by mirrors on the ceiling, Hubby Dearest, Little Monsieur and I sat down for a most scrumptious celebratory lunch.
Two hours later, we put Little Monsieur in his pushchair for his nap and took off up the hill to walk off that amazing food. We ended up at the Miró Foundation and, as Little Monsieur was still fast asleep, we decided to go in and enjoyed all the rooms in relative peace. Soon enough it was the end of nap time so we had to sacrifice further cultural enlightening in favour of more toddler-friendly activities, so we went to the Aquarium where Little Monsieur squealed at the (hopefully sound-proof!) fish tanks… We finished our day on the harbour where we shared a crepe. All spent and tired, we returned to our room where the Hotel Arts staff had left one last little surprise for me: a meringue cake with a single candle for me to throw one last celebration before bedtime.
Day Three – Almost Picasso
The next day was our last day in Barcelona, and I had my heart set on visiting the Picasso Museum during the morning. Sadly, our mini despot wasn’t as generous as he’d been on the previous day, and rather than sleep through or enjoy the strange shapes, he screamed murder from the moment we entered the first room until we eventually gave up, within 10 minutes of having bought our tickets, and left, totally mortified and frustrated. Instead we walked the streets of the neighbourhood with Little Monsieur slowly settling down for a nap in his pushchair: he was just cranky… The Picasso Museum will just have to go on the list of things I must do next time I’m in Barcelona with a few hours to spare. In truth though, for a 15-month old, Little Monsieur had behaved admirably, visiting monasteries and incredibly fanciful buildings as well as trying foods he had never tried before… When I look back all these years later, I realise what an amazing little traveller he has always been.
Barcelona is, as I’m sure you know, a fantastic city with the most intriguing architectural, from Catalan Gothic to Modernist buildings, not to mention the amazing food scene and the truly hospitable Catalans themselves, it’s a place one yearns to go back over and over again. I know I will.
A Styled Life 