We get constant positive feedback from guests with lots of positive comments. These are reinforced by our ranking on Tripadvisor and our on-line reviews, our occupancy rates, the word of mouth referrals, and the high number of repeat guests. Here are some of our guest comments:
Coffee and rusks
“Please please will you sell me some of your coffee to take home to the States. Yours is sooo good.” Sam from LA . She wasn’t very polite about American coffee!!
And a request to buy some rusks from Brenda who said we should package them and offer them for sale. We gave her some as a gift … made with love and care by Mr. T.
In-house toiletries
And a third request for items to buy … our amazing brand of organic toiletries
The allure of the swimming pool
With the sudden arrival of the hot weather the sparkling swimming pool has proved a winner with parents and children alike. Here a couple of boys enjoy working off energy in the water.
The birds at the feeder
And of course the birds provide an endless source of pleasure for guests (birders and non-birders alike) while they breakfast on the patio overlooking the garden. Each species is catered for with its special diet: Seeds for the weavers, bishops and sparrows; bananas for the comical go-away birds with their crests and their endearing clumsiness; apples for the barbets; any fruit for the starlings; suet and bonemeal for the insectivorous feeders: thrush, robins, green wood hoopoes, boubou shrike. The doves and pigeons bob around the ground alternating pecking what’s fallen off the feeder, competing for the same seed amongst thousands, and conducting mating dances with puffing chest, bobbing neck and somewhat desperate cooing.
Forgive the quality of the photograph but the little lovebirds are skittish and I can’t get too close. Lovebirds, found in the Northern Cape near Namibia, have become feral in Johannesburg having escaped from captivity. I’ve written before about the charming but sad story of the friendship between the Lovebird and the Parakeet in nearby Delta Park.
The garden and all its joyous colour, abundant greenery and lush plants
Our measures to deal with loadshedding
Severe load shedding (like stage 6) provides its challenges but guest are amazed at how the measures we have in place, mitigate the inconvenience. The gate to the property is on battery; the intercom from gate to staff and reception, and from rooms to staff and reception is backed up; there are strong motion sensor solar lights in the parking areas on the paths and outside each room; back-up lighting provides indoor lighting; and perhaps most important of all, the internet and wi-fi are on back-up so guests can continue to work, What’s App, and stream. With a gas hob in the main kitchen, breakfasts continue as usual. For any extended outage guests have access to back-up plugs in reception.
Uninterrupted water supply during recent outages
Electricity outages one can handle but water shortages are another matter. Again guests comment on the seamless transition from municipal water supply (or non-supply when there is an outage) to our borehole source. And our newest addition of 2 X 5000L tanks should reduce our high water bill significantly (between 4 and 4.7 thousand rand a month) and ensure ongoing water supply from either borehole in the dry winter months or rain water during the wet summer season. Fully filtered tanks enable the borehole as an ongoing supply and not simply for emergencies.