Breath in, Breath out!

So I've just returned from a 2 week holiday where I spent some quality time with my family including my two old fox terriers, who really had the time of their lives.

First we spent a week in my beloved Clarens (see previous Blog post), in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. This little town has just captured my heart and I seriously long to live there. I wish for an opportunity to come up every day. It is without a doubt the most picturesque place in South Africa with the quaintness on a little town thrown in for good measure. It's an artist haven and I believe the colours are unbelievable in Autumn.

This time round as I had my family and dogs along I had to choose a pet friendly place which we found in a place called "The View", a four bedroom (although one room is a self contained flatlet) house with the most remarkable garden I have seen just two blocks from the village of Clarens.

What an amazing view from the garden/veranda

Our dogs loved all the places to explore and we ate our full on the huge platter of ripe figs that was handed to us by the cleaning lady, picked from trees right in this beautiful, wild garden. This was definitely the perfect place for relaxing and for taking our dogs.

Sadly on our last night we found the best restaurant in South Africa, yes in the entire country. We ate at an establishment called Clementines and the food and wine was truly out of this world. If you are ever in this part of our beautiful country, you absolutely have to check it out. We especially loved the fact that the chef himself (well travelled) comes out to greet guests and discuss the food which was absolutely sublime. Check them out at: www.clementines.co.za

It is absolutely advisable to book as they are so good that they are often fully booked. We enjoyed it so much that next time we'll eat there every night because they have a surprisingly large selection for a small town restaurant.

I was, as always very sad to be leaving.

We then went off in the other direction of the country and headed up to Dullstroom, in Limpopo province. There we stayed in what could only be called a real farm house. Unlike Clarens where you go to shops and restaurants every day, here we just sat and relaxed in the country side. Spent lazy days reading and simply just "chilling".

Pretty country

Our dogs met some new friends - a couple of scary moments there as they had never seen cows before and just wanted to play! The little rascals actually climbed through the fence to take on these cows, feisty!

It was a good break, although try as you might you simply cannot hold onto this feeling for long and work creeps up on you again!

Anyway, my family and especially my dogs had an awesome time!

Till next time, All the best

Wayne....