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Michael-John stayed at Lord's Guest Lodge and had a wonderful weekend in their luxurious and charming stone cottages in McGregor. Make sure to book a weekend away at Lord's Guest Lodge to enjoy the best of McGregor.
With its Scottish inspired décor, beautiful surroundings, and stone cottages, Lord's Guest Lodge provided a wonderful weekend away in McGregor. The charming lodge provided the perfect base from which to explore the greater Robertson wine area, and with a restaurant producing one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted. I'll certainly be back soon.
We arrived in the late afternoon on Friday and were shown to our cottage. Each of the cottages and rooms at Lord's Guest Lodge has a different clan name. Ours was Cameron and the cottage was tastefully decorated with some well-placed tartan reminding you of the Scottish influence. On the wall hung a short history of the clan, which I really enjoyed. The cottage feels very much like a combination of British and South African heritage (which is very apt for the town of McGregor) with the thatched roofs combining very well with the brass fittings and other more British furnishings. Having Scottish blood in my veins, but also being a proud South African, this was the perfect getaway for me.
After settling in we took a walk around the grounds, making our way to an old stone chapel at the top of the hill. The chapel, which was built in 1849 and features amazing old stain glass windows, is now mainly used as a wedding venue. From the chapel you can get a great panorama of the surrounding area. Also on the grounds are a conference centre, a cosy pub, swimming pool and the popular Lady Grey restaurant.
When we had completed a nice sunset walk around the grounds we settled down for dinner at the Lady Grey restaurant - a beautiful old dining room with wooden floors, high stone walls and a thatch roof. We ordered the Lord's Wines Pinot Noir, which is produced down the road from the lodge and was the perfect accompaniment on a cool evening. I'm a vegetarian, and if you don't fancy a meat meal I can emphatically recommend the Mary Queen of Scots pizza. I think it might be one of the best pizzas I've ever eaten. I can't remember everything that was on it, but needless to say I retired to the cottage a very happy and well fed man.
The next morning we had a sumptuous breakfast on the deck at the restaurant before setting out to go wine tasting. Make sure to pick up a map of the estates from the lodge reception. There are a number of great estates in and around McGregor and the neighbouring Robertson. We chose to go wine tasting on the R317, one of the main roads through the estates in Robertson.
We started at Springfield, a lovely estate with a tasting area overlooking a dam. We really enjoyed the wines on offer, especially the Special Cuvée and the Work of Time, and we bought four bottles. We also bought another of their reds which was produced in support of local disadvantaged children. All profits from the wine sales went to helping provide them with a good education. Apparently a few of the neighbouring of the estates were also selling the wine, and it was really great to hear that the estates were committed to helping the children in the area.
After stopping at Springfield we headed on to Bon Courage where we had a very nice time relaxing in the sun and enjoying their wines. One of the really nice things about Bon Courage is that they leave you with the bottle allowing you to pour yourself another tasting if you'd like. Nobody seemed to be taking advantage of this which was nice to see. One of their more interesting wines is a Dry Gewurtzraminer. This is a white wine that is traditionally sweet, but theirs is a dry one and is certainly quite unique.
We headed back to Lord's Guest Lodge and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the cottage. At sunset we sat out on the veranda of our stone cottage and watched the sun set over the mountains on the edge of the Klein Karoo. Sitting there enjoying the natural beauty of the area, it was very difficult to want to be anywhere else.
That evening we went into town for dinner (although I could quite happily have eaten the Mary Queen of Scots pizza a second night in a row). There are quite a few restaurants in McGregor and our host at Lord's Guest Lodge had suggested Karoux, but alas they were fully booked. We ended up going to Tebaldi's where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner of vegetarian burgers.
After a very satisfying dinner we headed home. When I'd seen that the cottage had a fireplace I'd got it in my mind that I'd love to sit and relax alongside a wood fire. Unfortunately the night before we arrived there had been some rain and the wood had gotten wet, so our very hospitable host sent out to get some dry wood for us. We got the fire going and settled down to watch some TV. Oddly enough Ewan McGregor was on the Discovery Channel doing a tour of the Northern Hebrides in Scotland. A more fitting TV show there could not have been. That night we sat drinking tea, watching some stags eating grass in the Hebrides, and all to the sound of a crackling fire.
The next morning we headed back to Cape Town, truly wishing for a longer stay and quite intent on returning one day.
To find out more about Lord's Guest Lodge and to book a weekend away, click here.
