Augusta De Mist, Swellendam South Africa

Augusta De Mist

When a website claims that they are possibly the finest accommodation in Swellendam I expect the best. Dave and I were on our return trip from East London and decided to spend a night in Swellendam on our way back. We had previously stayed at Schoone Oordt and wanted a similar experience. Our aim was to be able to dine where we were staying but this proved to be impossible. Augusta De Mist have an onsite restaurant, but it was closed that evening. However, Renate offered to make a dinner reservation for us and given how amazing Augusta De Mist looked on the internet, we decided to book there.

Augusta De Mist

Protea Garden Suite
This suite has a lovely lounge area with a fireplace and satellite TV. However, the decoder was not working and when I went to look why, it showed the account as not being paid! Renate sorted this out for us, but the few channels available were none that we watch. Given that there was a Formula 1 race on that evening I had hoped we would be able to watch it but with no sport channels, and no WiFi in the rooms this was not possible. The first thing I did when we arrived was to make a cafetière of coffee. The king-size bed was super comfortable, but every time Dave turned over the entire mattress moved with him. We used the queen bed in the extra bedroom for our clothes, meaning I did not have to use the cupboards.
Our Room At Augusta De Mist
The Vintage Coach House

The bathroom is huge with a bath, loveseat and a tiny shower. There was not enough space in the shower to turn the taps on, and have the door closed at the same time. The shower door hinges are quite springy and the door slammed on me, leaving a huge bruise from the handle. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and body lotion were from the Millie collection by Charlotte Rhys and these miniature bottles are now next to my guest bath at home. I was really tempted to have a long bath as the bath salts provided looked amazing. But, we were time constrained to get to dinner as the restaurant wanted an early night.

Stunning Gardens At Augusta De Mist

Breakfast

The breakfast at Augusta De Mist was stunning, and so reminiscent of those we have had in top hotels in Europe. However, they serve up cheap juice with the reason being that oranges too expensive. With everything else being top quality, this boggled my mind. Coffee was brought to our table together with fresh fruit and spiced sugar syrup. From the buffet I chose homemade granola and Greek yoghurt. The bread is freshly baked every day and is served with homemade jams and preserves. From the hot meal selection I went for the salmon sumac scramble, and Dave had the Augusta. His poached eggs were served with homemade Harissa, farm bacon and fresh greens.

Our Breakfast At Augusta De Mist

A few observations

Swellendam never had to worry about water restrictions, and this certainly would have made for a great attraction for holiday makers during the drought. The one thing missing from our room was mosquito spray. Renate is very friendly, and extremely chatty. She spent time at breakfast with each of the guests conversing about their dinners the night before. Breakfast is served on the patio, with the tables next to some of the internal bedrooms. Renate mentioned how the occupancy rates had dropped and I think this is because of the world-wide recession. They are also priced out of the local market. This means that South African visitors will be hard pressed to stay there when other, local establishments are cheaper.

Contact them on +27 82 842 3444 or use this link to book your accommodation and get 10% back after your stay.

Inspiration published on Lavender and Lime February 13:

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