{"id":3801,"date":"2012-05-29T11:51:21","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T10:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ethosmarketing.co.uk.dedi391.nur4.host-h.net\/blog\/?p=3801"},"modified":"2012-05-29T14:04:51","modified_gmt":"2012-05-29T13:04:51","slug":"amandas-press-trip-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/2012\/05\/29\/amandas-press-trip-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Amandas Press Trip Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having boarded our plane in Cape Town both Paul and I expected to leave the sunshine behind us – but oh no – on arrival into George airport it appeared that the sun wanted to come too!\u00a0 Excellent.\u00a0 This was my first time to the Garden Route and I was very excited.\u00a0 Particularly as I was to be staying at The Manor House at Fancourt!\u00a0 How decadent.\u00a0 A short 10 minute drive from the airport, a quick trip down the sweeping driveway and there in front of us stood the majestic Manor House.\u00a0 Following in the foodie footsteps of Steenberg we\u00a0 started our trip with more Graham Beck bubbly plus some delectable canapes.\u00a0 Paul then took off to his suite for a well earned break whilst I donned a rather fetching bicycle helmet for a 5 km bike ride around the grounds at Fancourt.\u00a0 I was escorted by 2 charming members of the entertainment team who did however look rather concerned at the point when they realised that they would have to lead me through a rather fierce water sprinkler!!!!\u00a0 Head down, peddle fast and try not to get too drenched – I loved it!\u00a0 It was back to my suite for a long soak in the bath.\u00a0 How excited was I to see that Fancourt now have bathroom products from Rain – this was the one shop that I stopped off in at The Waterfront to buy some gifts for back home. If you don’t know them have a look at their website<\/a> as they are divine!\u00a0 The suite itself really is the ultimate in luxury from the choice of complimentary spirits through to the use of an Ipad if required!\u00a0 My first night at Fancourt ended with dinner in La Cantina with our charming host Natalie. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The following morning Paul and I were to be taken by Mario, owner of Tours For South Africa<\/a>, to Oudtshoorn, Ostrich Capital of the World.\u00a0 However as I was to find out, there is so much to do in and around Outshoorn, that we really only scratched the surface.\u00a0 One thing that I was not aware of was that this area has sunshine nearly year round.\u00a0 Always worth knowing. We started out at the Cango Caves which were simply awesome and considerably larger than Cheddar Gorge which were the last caves that I had ventured into!\u00a0 We had a very entertaining guide – my favourite story was that of a rather large lady who wanted to go on the adventure tour.\u00a0 She was advised not to but still insisted.\u00a0 She was then told she could only go so far however would not heed the advice of the staff and when their back was turned continued down the path and into the rather narrow “tunnel of Love”” where she promptly got stuck – for 11 hours!!!!\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"amanda-elephants\"<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n

From there we travelled to Karusa Wine Farm<\/a> for a wine tasting and ploughman’s lunch sitting overlooking the dam.\u00a0 So peaceful sitting amid such breathtaking scenery.\u00a0 After Both Paul and I had purchased our favourite bottles of wine we were off again for an impromtu visit to Buffelsdrift Game Lodge for the opportunity to interact with rescued elephants.\u00a0 It was here that our guide explained that the elephants that we would meet had been orphaned in the Kruger by poachers.\u00a0 One of the founders of The Knysna Elephant Park<\/a> heard about this and arranged for them to be bought down to Buffelsdrift Lodge and the Elephant Park for rehabilitation.\u00a0 They were bottle reared by their handlers and now feel very comfortable around people.\u00a0 I have only seen elephants in the wild and as such was initially very nervous and in awe of these magnificent creatures.\u00a0 However within the half an hour that we spent with them I went from standing nervously between two elephants to actually sitting on one.\u00a0 It was amazing!\u00a0 This is not a contrived tourist experience but rather the opportunity to see and support a programme that is saving injured and orphaned elephants. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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From elephants to feathers and the main reason that Oudtshoorn is so famous – the ostrich!\u00a0 In its heyday, Oudtshoorn was home to a number of Feather Barons who lived in Feather Palaces – the name given to the residences of the largest Ostrich Farms.\u00a0 The Ostrich feathers at their height were more valuable than gold and this was driven by the high society fashion that demanded feathers!\u00a0 With the onset of the opentop motorcar, the fashion changed and the feather market collapsed.\u00a0 This led the feather barons to seek other ways to use their ostriches which was when the meat and hide were put to use.\u00a0 Paul and I visited an ostrich farm and were lucky enough to have a private viewing of the inside of a feather palace which was still steeped in history.\u00a0 Our visit ended once again atop another typical African creature – this time the Ostrich – I did draw the line at racing with one though!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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How would we end a fantastic day without disappointment?\u00a0 Well I need not have worried as I\u00a0 put on my dress and “glammed up” for dinner at Henry White’s, the fine dining restaurant at the Manor House.\u00a0 This was a meal to remember and a highlight of our stay at The Manor House.\u00a0 Each course was a delicate blend of fine local produce which the chef, Charles Hayward, came out to talk us through each time.\u00a0 A wonderful meal to end a wonderful day. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The following day and our last day in South Africa, we were taken to Sikelela, the name of the project that Fancourt are heavily involved in.\u00a0 Here we learnt how Mrs Plattner singlehandedly turned this project around and ensured that it continued to grow and help women and children in the local communities.\u00a0 Here ladies are taught crafts, the social workers go into the community to give help and advise to those most in need and most importantly they offer a secure environment.\u00a0 It was most humbling.\u00a0 Having bought a number of crafts, we felt that we had contributed in some small way to the project and we were then whisked back to Fancourt for some relaxation before a long flight back to London. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To me this is the perfect way to end a trip – a visit to the spa at Fancourt!\u00a0 If only we had more time.\u00a0 This is a spa that you could easily spend the day at as it has the most amazing indoor roman baths and a choice of treatments to rival any international spa!\u00a0\u00a0 Dragging myself away it was time for a quick lunch at Morning Glory.\u00a0 Mozambiquan Prawns out on the terrace, in the African sunshine, overlooking the lush gardens and with the Outeniqua mountain range in the background.\u00a0 Is there any better lasting image of Fancourt and indeed South Africa than that!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having boarded our plane in Cape Town both Paul and I expected to leave the sunshine behind us – but oh no – on arrival into George airport it appeared that the sun wanted to come too! Excellent. This was my first time to the Garden Route and I was very excited. Particularly as I was to be staying at The Manor House at Fancourt! How decadent.<\/p>\n

Continue readingAmandas Press Trip Part 2<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,1,7,74],"tags":[9,62,135,40],"class_list":["post-3801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-clients","category-default","category-fancourt","category-manor-house","tag-garden-route","tag-luxury","tag-south-africa","tag-wine","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ethosmarketing.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}