Tulbagh: it’s a place that’s just out of reach but one that seems to keep its hold on you long after you’ve left. Beyond the grasp of tourism, one and a half hours from Cape Town, it’s an historic haven off the beaten winelands tracks in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek.
A rare treasure, Tulbagh’s honest authenticity complements its ability to play on the world stage as a premiere wine making region. Church Street is perhaps the most famous example of its past – building after building, it is a national monument of Cape Dutch architecture, painstakingly restored after a devastating earthquake in the 1940’s.
No longer private homes, these days the national monuments of Church Street have mostly been converted into an array of B&B’s, curios and cafés. At the end of the lane, a raw reminder of Tulbagh’s founding souls can be found at the church itself. Walk through the gates and the respect of generations will envelop you with one ancient tombstone after another. Names and dates – the only thing these souls have left on earth.
Just a few minutes out of town, the road meanders into the countryside past picturesque wine estates. Drostdy-Hof Manor stands watch like old faithful, flanked by others who make an impression on the palettes of unsuspecting wine lovers everywhere: the fourth-generation Twee Jonge Gezellen Estate, ‘The House of Krone‘, Saronsberg Cellar, and the historic Oude Compagnies Post. It’s easy to get swept up in the romance of the place – and the chapel at Montpellier stands like a beacon to such notions, its small stature belying its position amongst the vines on a hillside of monumental beauty.
It seems to me that the people who visit Tulbagh have something in common with the people that live there – maybe we’re drawn by the call of the mountain range, the quiet on the breeze, or even the past that seems to whisper from every rock, nook and cranny. Something draws us all there – something that makes the jagged mountain peaks that curve overhead in the shape of a horseshoe landscape feel like home’s embrace.
Click here for accommodation in Tulbagh ranging in price from R275 a person to R1500.
Read more about Tulbagh on the Getaway Blog here.
