Clermont Auberge

Diane, my handler from Enchanting tours who met me at the Cape Town airport and took me to get my rental car was super helpful. She called around to outdoor equipment stores in Stellenbosch (I had to drive right through it to get to Franschhoek) and located me a water bottle to replace the one I lost. Then she caught several errors made in my car booking (like I was only driving to the town George and then dropping the car whereas the plan was that I was bringing back the car to Cape Town), plus she had them upgrade all the insurance to 'walk away insurance' and to throw in a GPS all at no cost. It was her that had me switch from my original Audi to a Mercedes as that is what she drives so she could help me figure out everything. She even set up the GPS so I could find the store to get my water bottle. I found her incredibly helpful. So off I went driving on the wrong side of the road with the wheel on the wrong side and after a wrong few turns and going the wrong way, I finally headed out of the parking lot and onto the highway. I did not speed once.
So I was driving around in a white Mercedes which I thought I would stick out but once I got onto the highway I did not stick out at all! 80% of the cars in South Africa were white.
I even impressed myself by not only locating the mall where the outdoor equipment store was , but I parked underground and was able to find a water bottle exactly like the one I lost. Same colour and everything! Then off to Clermont Auberge in Franschhoek.

The drive to Stellenbosch reminded me of driving from the West Cost of BC to Kelowna. The drive from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek

reminded me of driving from Kelowna to Winfield were I went to High School. I was definitely in wine country. It made me home sick for BC.
My first impression of the Franschhoek was that it was French Colonial quaint. The little town had a very laid back vibe as compared to the University town vibe of Stellenbosch which felt a bit like a party town. I am glad I was booked into Franschhoek.
My first impression of Clermont Auberge was one of awe! I drove about 3 minutes outside of Franschhoek into a more rural area and pulled up to a wrought iron gate that had an intercom to buzz in order for them to open the gate. There was a long drive way with a tennis court on the left and olive trees and then an orchard on the right. You pull up behind all the buildings in a parking lot that is under huge trees. On the left is a separate villa and pool that can be booked privately by a family and then the breakfast building in the middle with the rest of the 6 rooms on the right and in behind. The 6 rooms

surrounded a courtyard and looked out onto the vineyard and the mountains in the distance.
My original booking was for the Lavendar Farm but a week before I left Canada, Maryanne from Enchanting Travels emailed to say she was going to switch me from there as they were repairing their pool so it was out of service. By happy accident, I ended up here at Clermont Auberge. A gated estate which is a working vineyard, olive producer and plum orchard, plus guest house. The grounds are filled with flower beds and big old trees and water features sprinkled here and there.
Although Maryanne asked for a ground floor room, I of course was put in a room up a flight of stairs. It was their last room so I dealt with the stairs. Don't fail me now knees! I have to say that the room is very lovely and rather huge, larger, I think than the rooms on the ground.
The owner has three dogs, a German Shepherd named Rusty, a chocolate lab named Pepper, and a medium sized rescued dog named Stella. She brought them over to see me when I was sipping Brut in the garden as I had asked her the day before where they were. I miss Sam. I got lots of slobbery kisses.
The breakfasts here are served in a central building decorated like the town in the French Colonial style. I love the breakfasts as the ladies that run the kitchen are all characters. Since the family was busy running the vineyards, olive groves, plum orchards and the guest houses, they just couldn't run the breakfast part of the B and B so they asked the locals if they wanted to take it over. 4 local women run the breakfast room and support a further 50-60 people from their families with what they make from it. This includes school fees and medical insurance. This is Africa.
All the staff here are excellent. There is a security guard at night on staff should something come up over night as the owner lives across the vineyard.

I dined the first night at The French Connection.
I had fresh mussels in cream sauce, holy mother Mary that sauce was delicious. I could have licked the bowl. Then I had the rarest meat next to tartare with a roasted rare Springbok. Followed by 3 little chocolates that the waiter talked me into. This was an excellent choice for my first night here. I loved it.

I dined the second night at a place called Roca which is up in the hills and overlooks the valley. It is also in the middle of a working vineyard so I sat outside and watched the sun set over Franschhoek valley as I devoured freshly shucked oysters followed by a rare rib eye. Heaven
The third and last night I dined at a place called Le Bon Vivant. It had excellent TripAdvisor reviews and was rated as a 4 star. I was disappointed. They left my oysters still attached to the bottom shell and so I sent them back as I thought they hadn't shucked them properly with the shucker, but no, the waitress brought them back to me and said Chef said that is how they are served. I asked her how I was supposed to eat them so she went back into the kitchen and brought me a steak knife.
As hard as I tried to get over this, every time I shucked a oyster with the steak knife, I got more and more incredulous. It was ruined for me. I cancelled my dinner order, paid my bill, with a tip even though the waitress basically ignored me since bringing me the steak knife and left. And tried not to over react or obsess about it. (Stop laughing- I tried!!) I ended up eating in the gardens at Clermont Auberge, finishing up the wine, cheese and sausage I bought when I stopped to get my water bottle in Stellenbosch. Which was pretty good since I had a lovely view and a pretty awesome bubbly and no drinking and driving to worry about.