Flowers in Darling (West Coast)

Yesterday (01/10/2009) was a full day - we decided to take a drive up to Darling (near the West Coast) to go and see the wild flowers as everyone we had spoken to had said that the show of flowers was the best in years. So by 10am after all the guests had checked out of the Guest House we set off in the Direction of Darling - parents, us and the kids.

We drove through Stellenbosch and then on to Malmesbury. Here we searched briefly for a nice outdoor venue to sit and have coffee but found nothing so drove on to Darling. It was roughly 11:30 by the time we had reached darling and with dry mouths we went in search of our coffee. We first drove past the Dirk Uys restaurant and station but having already been there on a previous occasion we decided to try somewhere new so just around the corner (at the intersection of Main Road and Station Road) we found a quaint corner coffee shop with niknacks and small nursery and bookshop - The Mantis Mall .











The name sounds impressive but in reality it was just a small converted cottage, but very, very quaint. Whilst waiting for the coffee we all browsed through the nooks and crannies within the house and eventually landed up buying a Vygie shrub.

With coffee over we set off to see the flowers. Our first stop was at the Malmesbury Information Bureau which we found housed within the Malmesbury Museum in Pastorie Road which in fact was the old Town Hall. Here we were handed a map informing us where all the flower locations were and so off we headed to the Darling Renosterveld Reserve as our first stop.

(Just a brief history of the Malmesbury Museum - Founded in 1978 by the Darling Women's Agricultural Association as a Butter Museum, one section contains a unique collection of artifacts depicting the beginnings of the buttermaking industry in Darling which was famous for its creamery. In 1989 the Museum was moved to its present home in the old Town Hall (1899) in Pastorie Street and expanded to reflect the lifestyle and growth of the village over the century and a half since its beginnings in 1853. The Museum recreates life in a bygone era with fascinating displays of Victorian clothing, china and household furniture. A traditional kitchen complete with hearth contains many ingenious gadgets intended to make the life of a Victorian housewife easier).

NOW BACK TO THE RENOSTERVELD RESERVE

We first thought we could through the reserve but when we arrived we saw the reserve was fenced in and we had to go on foot.
This certainly did not appeal to my mother and I was more concerned about having an encounter with a slithery reptile as this was sure to be a snake's haven.

Anyway, we ventured through the gate of the Reserve and were sadly disappointed at the show of flowers – we had missed it by a few weeks. Nevertheless we continued walking up along the footpath and eventually after not seeing many flowers decided to return to the car. We then headed off towards another reserve – here we found what we were looking for – fields and fields of colour – yellow, orange, purple and white with dashed of blue inbetween.

AND WE COULD DRIVE THE CAR THROUGH THE RESERVE - stopping every now and then for the kids to pose for a picture.

We toured around the reserve for roughly a half an hour and then headed off to the Cloof Winery for Lunch. Much to our disgust it was a dirt road of roughly 8km so it was a very dusty approach to the winery - we had to turn off by the Darling Winery and then continue towards Cloof Winery.

We were shown to our table outsie on the lawns and once we had placed our food order we set off intot he cool winery to taste the samples. They were all good and landed up buying a few bottles too many. Lunch was good and so was the wine - we even saw flowers - so it was a good day and set off back to the Guest House - MOORING HOUSE.