Start your holiday at Spier with 15% off your 2 night stay on the 29th and 30th of September. A weekend at the farm is all about balance, chill time and taking it easy while you take time out.
While staying at Spier’s Fair Trade Hotel, there’s more to do than wine, food and putting your feet up! (But if that’s how you’d love to spend your time out, feel free.)
The Spier vineyards, grounds and farmlands are some of the most romantic in the winelands. Pack your walking and running shoes, and enjoy the freedom of the farm, and all that it offers. Pick up a yellow Qhubeka bike (they’re free) and go cycling along quiet farm roads and walkways. Explore along the river, and stroll through the romantic vineyards. Book yourself a massage or skin and pampering treatments at the Spa, and give yourself a day devoted to body and soul.
View one of South Africa’s most impressive collections of contemporary art, in the gardens and heritage buildings. The Spier farm houses an extensive collection of iconic art, in the gardens, public spaces, and historic buildings. It’s like staying in an art gallery! Take the time to take it all in.
After all this exploring, refuel at one of the wine farm’s many good food and wine venues. Try some specially crafted dining experiences – from farm-to-table – at Eight restaurant and Eight To Go Picnics. Here, Spier chefs work with fresh seasonal ingredients, either picked daily from the farm food garden, or sourced from nearby growers. Always prepared with great style, lunch or dinner at Eight is a rare treat.
The farm’s offering is about simple, seasonal dishes with as much natural flavour as possible, and this ethos shines through in all the menus – from In-Room Dining, to Eight, the Hotel Restaurant, and Hoghouse, where ‘the Hog’ produces ‘low and slow’ smoked meats, done for up to 16hours in the smoker.
Spier beef, pork and chicken comes from Farmer Angus’s grass-fed cattle raised on the farm’s pastures and eggs are courtesy of truly free-range chickens. The menu changes depending on what the current harvest brings to the table, so it’s always fresh and seasonal. Your holiday break at Spier can be as slow or as packed as you want it to be. To help you plan your to-do list, here’s a list of top activities and great things to do.
Blissful mornings
- Lie in, in your room close to the peaceful Eerste River, and check out the In-Room Dining Menu. How about Eggs Benedict in bed?
- Jump into your running shoes and pack in some cardio, as you run through the vineyards.
- Pick up a book. Find a nook.
- Visit the Spier food garden. Learn from the resident garden crew how their organic garden grows. Pick up some tips and inspiration.
Teatime
- Get cosy with an eagle. (We mean, actually hold one.) Book to see a falconry display with Eagle Encounters.
- Try the chef’s pastries and cakes. Go on, cave. You’re on holiday.
- Jump on one of Spier’s famous yellow Qhubeka bikes. They’re free for guests to use. Wheeee-ling’s a great feeling. Take your binoculars with you – this is a birdwatcher’s paradise.
The Long Lunch
- You have options. The Hotel Restaurant – so many amazing tastes, fresh from Spier’s own food garden and nearby local producers.
- The latest attraction on the farm is the old farm Werf. Restored in 2015, it’s now home to the Hoghouse smokehouse, an old school artisanal bakery / patisserie and smokehouse that spills out onto the lawns.
- Just around the corner, there’s Eight, where every dish is a tribute to seasonal cycles, every ingredient homegrown and hand picked – or sourced from respected local growers.
Afternoons: Slow & Lazy
- Amble on down to The Spa at Spier. Squeeze in a skin or body treatment or two.
- Listen to all that gushing… take a stroll along the Eerster River. It’s right there, on your doorstep.
- Plug your earphones into a Voicemap audio tour that’ll take you on a guided walk around the farm, uncovering layers of history and heritage, as well as detail about Spier’s approach to farming and the botanical diversity in the area, as you go. Download the app on your phone, and head out.
- Stop by The Tasting Room. Have a splash of the Spier sommeliers’ pride and joy. Exceptionally well-made wines, by a team of winemakers who love what they do. This is what Spier is famous for.
- Need a little retail therapy? The shop at The Tasting Room and hotel gift shop is filled with books, curated craft-art, and hand made treasures to take home.
- Unpack a picnic under the oak of your choosing – or trundle down and find a quiet riverside spot.
Dinner & Beyond
- Turn in early with a treat from the In-Room Dining Menu. Or open a bottle of award-winning Spier wine.
