Jan Harmsgat Country House, Swellendam, Western Cape: Accommodation Review

Jan Harmsgat Country House
R60 outside of Swellendam (Bonnievale area) Western Cape | Map1 | Map2

Accommodation type: Bed & Breakfast
Number of stars: 4
Rooms starting from (per person sharing): R450
SA Blog recommends? Definitely!

Snippet
Other nearby activities include wine tasting (Jan Harmsgat is located along the Robertson Wine Route), enjoying the museums and heritage sites of Swellendam, or a nip up the R60 to beautiful Montagu and its hot springs.

(See full review below.)

Low season specials? Yes
Breakfast included? Yes
Dedicated non-smoking rooms? Yes
Staff friendliness (out of 10): Not reviewed
Staff competence (out of 10): Not reviewed

Room options: Single, Double, Suite, Cottage
Room comfort level (out of 10): Not reviewed
Noisy? No
Does the TV remote work? Not reviewed
Fan or A/C? Not reviewed
Pool? Yes

Concierge? N/A
Restaurant? No
Conference facilities? No
Three ink blot adjectives: Historic, Luxurious, Fair Trade
Value for money? Yes

Booking information
Jan Harmsgat Country House
PO Box 161
Swellendam 6740
Tel: +27 (0) 23 616 3407/3311, Fax: +27 (0) 23 616 3201
judireb@iafrica.com
www.jhghouse.com/

Review
The historic Cape Dutch country house of Jan Harmsgat, built in 1723, is situated just outside Swellendam - South Africa’s third-oldest town, after Cape Town and Stellenbosch - among the pecan, almond and fruit orchards of a working farm.

Jan Harmsgat Cottage

The 4-star guest house offers five large en-suite rooms (all non-smoking), two loft rooms and a guest lounge with expansive mountain views. About 5 minutes’ drive from the main house, a self-contained cottage can be booked - ideal for groups of 4 - which is close to the farm’s bass fishing pond. Guests can fish, visit the farm’s cheese-making facilities, relax by the pool or join the owner for a ride to the farm’s beautiful “backlands”. Apart from breakfast, lunches and suppers can be arranged - including several organic options.

Other nearby activities include wine tasting (Jan Harmsgat is located along the Robertson Wine Route), enjoying the museums and heritage sites of Swellendam, or a nip up the R60 to beautiful Montagu and its hot springs.

Fair Trade-Certified

Jan Harmsgat is also a Fair Trade-certified destination, meaning if you book a stay here you’ll be doing your part to encourage socially-responsible business practice.

What is Fair Trade tourism?

The guesthouse is highly active in the local economy, both through its purchasing and employment policies and also its linkages with other businesses like the Old Gaol coffee shop. The guesthouse is committed to staff training and development. It employs mainly black women who were previously unemployed and are now manage operations on a day-to-day basis.