Environmental education on the menu

The Vineyard Hotel & Spa is now offering non-resident guests an organised garden walk once a month followed by a morning or afternoon tea in the hotel’s lounge or on the patio that overlooks the gardens and offers views of the Cape Peninsula’s mountains.

Chris van Zyl, the environmental manager for the Vineyard Hotel & Spa, d’Ouwe Werf in Stellenbosch and the Townhouse Hotel & Conference Centre in the Cape Town CBD, has been hosting garden walks on request for the Vineyard’s guests and local garden clubs since 2002.

“Now we’d like to make this a more formal arrangement,” he says, “with garden walks offered to anyone interested, once or even twice a month. The walks will be advertised in the media, so that guests and the interested public can come and enjoy our indigenous gardens.”

Van Zyl says many people don’t realise the hotel gardens and facilities – with the exception of the pool and gym – are open for the public to experience. “Anyone is welcome to walk in, go for a stroll in the garden and enjoy a cup of coffee or even a sundowner at the bar.”

On the planned garden walks, guests will spend about 90 minutes in gardens designed and laid out by landscape architect, Ann Sutton. Historical information will also be shared, since the property has been an estate since 1799 – and was once home to Lady Anne Barnard.

However, the emphasis of the walks remains botanical, and medicinal plants will also be pointed out. Birds and insects will be discussed when seen, and interesting geological formations – that resemble fossilised water ripples – will also be discussed.

“The Vineyard Hotel’s garden has a wide variety of indigenous trees, as well as other special species that don’t usually occur in this part of Africa,” says Van Zyl, “but because we have a micro climate, there are even some tropical tree species flourishing here such as the African flame tree, which doesn’t generally grow in Cape Town.”

The garden walks will be available throughout the year and will follow a circular route and meander along the Liesbeek River too. “Importantly, visitors will be able to see what a natural garden looks like. Many hotels have either formal clipped gardens or modern layouts, but at the Vineyard we have allowed the garden to happen in a natural way. We don’t plant annuals for colour either, and rather rely on the indigenous plants to introduce seasonal colour.”

The recently appointed F&B manager at the Vineyard Hotel & Spa, Matt Deitchman, says: “We are encouraging interested groups to enjoy the gardens and what the hotel has to offer. Both morning and afternoon walks are an option, depending on demand, and each group will be served different accompaniments with tea and coffee.”

A choice of scones, Danish pastries or finger sandwiches will be served with tea and coffee priced from R40, which includes the guided garden walk. “We want it to be affordable and enjoyable for as many people as possible,” he says.

While the ideal group size is between 10 and 15 people, larger groups are also welcome to book for garden walks.

A more substantial Afternoon Tea offering is also available which is priced at R90 per person and served daily from 15h00 – 17h30.