We may have mentioned this before, but our good friend, Ricci-Leigh was visiting SA for a few weeks and we decided that a girl’s night away was a good idea!
Actually, when is a girls night away ever not a good idea?!
We would have loved the whole weekend away, but unfortunately work and other commitments limited our time so we wanted to find something not too far out of Jozi. At the same time, we wanted something that made us feel like we were out of the city smoke!
After trawling through our favourite SA blogs, we remembered that Jozilcious had written a great post on a venue called Kievits Kroon in Pretoria and we thought we would give it a bash! It doesn’t hurt that it ties in with our “wanting to explore South Africa” motto for 2016 😉
This venue has been termed the ‘Winelands’ of Gauteng and from the moment we arrived, we could understand why; the entrance to the venue was magnificent and oozed the whole ‘Cape Dutch’ feel.
Upon arrival we were treated to a refreshing glass of champagne overlooking the gorgeous lawns of the venue – it really has a calming and relaxed feel to it, and it put us all in a very chilled mood just in time for our spa treatment we had pre-booked.
As lovely as it is to have spa facilities on the premises, we did feel that the area needed a slight update or revamp. Nonetheless, we left our hot-stone treatment feeling completely relaxed dazed and ready for a cup of tea on our room patios.
Speaking of our rooms – we are happy to report that the beds met our high standards: fluffy, king sized, comfy and the perfect thing to roll onto after our amazing dinner at the Granita restaurant; one of the dining venues on the estate.
We opted for the 6 course menu and wine pairing, and were really impressed with the taste, quality and presentation of the fusion style cuisine. The only thing that the dining room could have worked on was the time between some of the courses as we waited a looong time (hungry girls can get cranky!).
The next day, we spent the good part of the morning lazing around the amazing pool area. Ilaria made it clear that when selecting a venue, it MUST have a very inviting pool area and Kievits Kroon certainly does not disappoint on that front. This resulted in a good hour spent in the water and some very crinkly skin.
We thought we would start adopting the ‘Spruce O’ Meter’ approach to the measurement of our travel venues, with a focus on three core areas:
- Ambiance: 8/10
- Service: 5/10
- Cleanliness: 7/10
The overall score from Spruce was a 7/10, and yes we would go back. Kievits Kroon provided us with exactly what we wanted; affordable, relaxed and close to Jozi.
If you are looking for a short getaway, have a look at their website. They often have specials that run from time to time and also offer picnic packages that can be enjoyed under the stunning trees of the estate.