The Manor House at Eikehof is a truly magnificent farm of about 128 hectares and dates back to the late 1790s with an imposing entrance hall, an enormous eat-in kitchen with an open fireplace, a dining room, and a generous lounge as well as 3 large en-suite bedrooms.

Named for the stately oak trees that have graced Eikehof for eons, the farmstead stands firmly on historic Cape Dutch foundations. Eikehof is just 12 km from Worcester, but it’s centuries away from the craziness of 21st-century life.

You can step back 200 years and be steeped in the authentic and genteel lifestyle of yesteryear. It’s easy to imagine Lady Anne Barnard visiting this gracious farm because she actually did. The farm running all the way into the foothills of the moody Olifantsberg, the original Eikehof house was built around 1800.

Eikehof house is lux farm style! You’ll enjoy beautiful white bed linen and thick towels, walk-on-worn Persian carpets, and relax in velvet armchairs. A generous, scrubbed wooden table in the kitchen is for dining in situ over lazy meals. The blue plate collection here echoes the many shards of ancient blue porcelain found in the garden and likely brought here by early Dutch settlers.

It will one day be fashioned into a historic mosaic piece. Since the dining room wasn’t needed, it took on new life as a games room with a big round table for playing fun board games or serious chess clashes. There’s a fireplace for crackling winter warmth here too.

All the spacious bedrooms, with large and luxurious en-suite bathrooms, have king-sized beds and stylish old-world decoration.

As you move through the house, you’ll literally be walking across history. The floors are original yellowwood and Oregon, as are the heavy ceiling beams. Rooms are framed with rare and original single-panel yellowwood and stinkwood doors, and sash windows are shielded by internal wooden shutters. It’s a different world of grand proportions and symmetry, grace, and timeless Cape Dutch design, with mountain views from every window. Yet nothing in the house is precious either.

Wake up early, cozy up with a mug of coffee on the front verandah, and watch the sunrise from behind the mountains. Sometimes it’s misty, but always the light dances across the rock faces and foothills. In the evenings you may be enveloped in light that’s candyfloss pink, as the sun sets on the day. You can also watch this natural mountain theatre while dipping in the round pool, which has been fashioned from an old farm dam.

In addition to all the fruit-bearing trees, there’s also a cool bluegum forest with a stream running through it. The water is sweet and clean and fresh from the mountain. And it’s said that once you taste the water, you will forever want to return to this majestic place that’s guarded by old oak trees – just as it always was.