Experience Spier Wine Farm without the wine
The estate has a fantastic art collection that varies from sculpture to a variety of other art forms around the farm.
Spier Wine Farm. Picture: Spier
Outings on holiday require planning, planning requires effort and effort leads to a drink – post brain-flexing – to calm down.
Drinks lead to rash decisions and more drinks that tend to lead to a headache.
Avoid the Grandpa the next day by experiencing a great chunk of Stellenbosch’s charm at only one estate for a perfect outing. On top of that, you don’t even need to drink a drop.
Fit and fabulous
If you constantly post your road and trail running medals on Instagram, and you spend more money on good tights than office attire, then the 5km and 10km running and walking routes at Spier is just for you.
The track is stunning with mountainous vistas without the fear of getting bumped with a car.
After your run visit the Farm Kitchen for a juice, a variety of salads or even something more substantial. If you want to linger even longer on the lawns, you can order picnic baskets from the kitchen 24 hours before your visit.
Segway tour
You want a sticker on your car bumper that reads “Sleep When You’re Dead”. Your Facebook profile picture is you after a Warrior Race covered with mud. You’re adventurous – but you still order the Lemon and Herb at Nandos. Fantastic.
The one hour Vineyard Segway Tour at Spier offers just enough adrenaline to get your heart racing, without plummeting from a bridge or airplane. Except for not being allowed to drink before the tour, the tour itself goes through some farm terrain that will see you using your noodle to navigate, so you need your wits about you.
Thankfully a 20-minute orientation is included (so don’t worry if you’ve never been on a Segway before). The tour highlights the Helderberg’s beauty, but also the farming practices at Spier.
Start with art
Somewhere along the line you’ve posed for a picture at the Circa Art Gallery entrance or at the bottom of the silos at Zeitz MOCAA. You like innovation and know your Christo Botes from your Mary Sibande.
Spier has a fantastic art collection that varies from sculpture to a variety of other art forms around the farm.
One of the best permanent exhibitions is Songsmith (The Great Karoo) by Jenna Burchell. The interactive rocks is based on the Japanese art Kintsukuroi where broken pottery is repaired with gold lacquer.
In this case, by using the songsmith repair, there’s a functionality to each piece – they make a variety of audible sounds when you move your hands around them – creating the song of the Karoo.
Vadas Smokehouse and Bakery
Under religion on Facebook your profile reads “Bacon”, you always share pictures of your food and definitely have opinions on steak ranches. You’re unashamedly carnivore and you might have a profile picture after shooting your first buck.
Vadas restaurant is then a haven. The new space joins a number of dining options on the estate, but this one features smoked pork belly with apple ketchup, smoked brisket and melt-in-your mouth pulled pork among its many options.
Eager eagles
You know a booby is a bird and your profile picture is you holding binoculars in a bird hide.
The Eagle Encounters on the estate has been open since 2001, where birds of prey are rehabilitated and then released back into the wild. The programme is all about education, but plays a significant role on the estate to keep pests in check.
Regular shows include falconry, but depending on when you get there you might see different birds or animals being cared for.
Kids wine tasting
Okay, so after a busy day of not drinking maybe you want to show off the kids on your Instagram story (responsible parent that you are). Why not treat the kids to a juice tasting while you sip on something.
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