Last weekend, I took the opportunity to go on a site inspection and stay at Majeka House, a lovely hotel in Stellenbosch, about 45 minutes drive from Cape Town. It had been on my list for quite a couple of years but it is only now that I feel comfortable doing site inspections together with Rosie, especially if the hotel is near Cape Town and it is an easy 1 night get-away over the weekend.
We departed around 10am in the morning so that we could explore Spier Wine Farm before going to Majeka house. I will write about our lovely wine tasting and grape juice tasting in another post. Our time at Spier was well spend. Certainly a wine farm with a difference, an advocate for sustainable farming, a great wine estate to take children because it has so many kids friendly activities.
Once I had told Rosie that there would be a swimming pool at the hotel where we were going to stay, there was no stopping her, we had to get there. We arrived at Majeka House around 3pm and were shown around by one of the lovely staff members. I had imagined a more guesthouse style property but Majeka House in Stellenbosch certainly ticks all the boxes for a 5 star hotel with an indoor heated swimming pool, a spa, a restaurant with opening hours all day, room service, laundry service and not to forget the award winning restaurant Makaron.
Traveling with a child, certainly has a few challenges, like once she’s seen the pool or the massive flat screen TV, there’s not much else she wants to do. We were booked into an absolute stunning pool suite with a pool right in front of our sliding doors. The pool is only shared with the room next door. The suite is very spacious with the beautiful theme of Flamingos. Rosie thought there was a flamingo in the bathroom and didn’t want to go to the toilet..
We tried to take a little dip in our plunge pool but soon realized that the heated covered pool might be a much better option so we went there. Then we also discovered the jacuzzi. Oh, so nice and warm, I almost fell asleep.
After our time in the pool, it was time to enjoy our suite a little bit. Rosie was glued to the MASSIVE flat screen which was fun to enjoy for 1 night. I took a shower, not too long because of the serious water restrictions we have at the moment in Cape Town. Water restrictions level 5 have been implemented so no one is supposed to have baths, long shower, wash cars, fill up pools, wash cars and so on. The water pressure in the shower was very good so it was tempting to stay a bit longer but I didn’t.
Majeka House is an easy place to bring children is my experience. The fact that the restaurant is open all day long made it very easy for me to have a lovely early dinner in the bar area. I had first made a reservation at Makaron because I didn’t know about the other restaurant but it wouldn’t have been fun with Rosie. Towards 6pm she normally gets tired and sitting quietly on a chair is just not an option because she wants to hide that she’s tired.
We shared a lovely Risotto with raw mushrooms and parmesan chips and a tempura prawn salad with papaya and avocado. Both were delicious and beautifully presented. For desert I choose the Crème Brulée and Rosie had strawberry ice cream. The Crème Brulée was delicious but the portion was WAY too big. I suggested to the waiter, they should really half the portion and it would still be a generous portion. Off to bed now..
It was very easy to put Rosie to sleep after a sumptuous dinner in the comfortable beds. Once I had read the bed time story she easily fell asleep which then allowed me to watch some movie on the big screen.
Another reason why this is a great hotel to stay with children in the Cape Town / Stellenbosch area, is that they serve breakfast everyday from 7am. Sometimes I’ve stayed in hotels with Rosie where breakfast during the weekend would only start at 9am. It is impossible with a hungry 5 year old! Majeka House is very convenient. And then it is not JUST a breakfast. WOW!! I was blown away by the beautiful breakfast buffet that seemed to offer anything under the son that one could possibly imagine on a hotel breakfast buffet. Check out the pictures.
The hot breakfast order was taken as well. Rosie choose the pancakes with blueberry compote but we put some Nutella on it instead…. I opted for the rösti with smoked salmon which was delicious. A few flat whites to wash it all down and I was sorted for most of the day and ready to go.
Majeka House in Stellenbosch is situated in a leafy suburb Paradyskloof of the wine capital of South Africa. Many wine estates are in easy driving distance and on Saturdays and Sundays you can visit both the Blauuklippen Market as well as the Root44 Market. Strawberries can be picked at Mooiberg. All in all you will need at least a couple of days to explore it all. We will definitely recommend Majeka House to our future clients.
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