This might sound like a foodie sin for anyone living in the Cape Town area, but up until this past weekend, I hadn't yet been to visit Babylonstoren.
The name doesn't ring a bell?
It's this awesome estate near Franschhoek, with a super organic garden which supplies all the food for the estate restaurant, Babel.
They started making wine in 2011 when they opened and now offer wine tastings of their Viognier (R100), Mourvedre rose (R75), Chardonnay (R170) and a spectacular Shiraz (R120).
Tastings are R20 per person, but if you buy wine, you get your tasting for free.
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| Babylonstoren wines |
They also have a charcuterie room, where they make their own cured meats and biltong. They have a cheese parlor with cheeses from neighboring estate Dalewood and interesting cheese-related gadgets.
It's basically your one-stop picnic shop!
Perfect, because you can get your goodies and stroll through the amazing gardens while munching.
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| Bakery room at Babylonstoren |
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| Babylonstoren charcuterie and biltong |
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| Babylonstoren oven from the 1700s |
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| cheeses at Babylonstoren |
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| Babylonstoren farm shop |
The gardens are so much bigger than I thought they would be. With water rills from the 1700s still being utilized throughout the organic orchards, vegetable patches, herb gardens and so on. They have pathways leading visitors through the different sections, which are fragrant with seasonal produce.
Garden tours are at 10am on the weekends. There are also farm animals, roosters and donkeys which stroll about. It makes for a lovely family day out.
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| Babylonstoren gardens |
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| Babylonstoren gardens |
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| Babylonstoren gardens |
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| Babylonstoren outskirts of the estate |
Note: There is a R10 entrance fee to the estate per person – this goes towards the garden ad allows guests access to the gardens.
It's definitely worth a visit! Next time I'll go back for lunch and a visit to the greenhouse.
http://babylonstoren.com
021 863 3852
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