In the shade of Tienuurkop

Leon de Kock finds peace and quiet near Swellendam

• TAKE A ROAD TRIP

As Paul Theroux says in his African travelogue, Dark Star Safari, going away, setting out on an expedition, is a kind of revenge on those who make you wait, those who hang you out to dry while they discuss your case and consider your fate. Those who will not look you in the eye.

But to travel in the right kind of spirit you need peaceful, loving company. The non-arguing kind. You want to do this under the hippy mantra of love, peace and happiness. My daughter Coco fits the bill 100%. So, Coco and I drive from Stellenbosch over Sir Lowry's Pass and into the golden-green Overberg. Undulating hills, green pastures, burnished mountains, soft, bursting fertility wherever you look. Even the sheep seem contented in a nice, fat way.

You drive beyond the rich Elgin Valley, flanked by the Hottentots Holland mountains, beyond the Houw Hoek Pass, with Hermanus and Kleinmond ahead, to the right. You forge deeper into the mountainous, wintry-wet Cape landscape, and penetrate the deep Overberg farmland, where Marlene van Niekerk's epic SA novel, Agaat, is set.

Agaat is a Cape country novel that unsettles the idea of pastoral bliss, so you know that the beauty here is smudged with the difficult history of what poet Sydney Clouts once called a "violent Arcadia".

The destination is Swellendam, just two hours and a bit from Stellenbosch (about three from Cape Town). The idea of our breakaway is emphatic: peace and quiet. The year 2011 has taken a toll on both of us, and we want, simply, to be at rest.

• WHERE TO SLEEP

We are booked into a newly fitted cottage, in the valley below the Swellendam mountains, called Die Stal. At R500 a night for the cottage (suitable for two adults), it is a giveaway, especially since the fittings, linen, Persian rugs, decor and furniture are all of five-star quality.

Die Stal is situated on a farm, and it used to be a milking shed. The elevated platform upon which the cows used to stand while their udders were massaged is now a platform sporting two Ikea sandalwood easy chairs. They look down onto a brand-new, contemporary kitchen and across an airy lounge flooded with north-facing light. Outside, straight ahead, the Langeberg's Tienuurkop is cleaved by kloof and river.

This is a cottage with a light, minimalist feel, embedded in an environment that allows you, simply, to be. To re-gather your thoughts and feelings - that is, if you ignore the work e-mails buzzing around your head like hornets. This takes some doing. I didn't manage, myself, but I tried.

Very close by, and even deeper in the lee of the mountain, you will find two log-cabin type cottages recently built on the farm Fazenda, owned by resident farmer Ian Ross. These log cabins are less luxuriously fitted, but they are closer to the brute simplicity of the mountain, its smells, the birdsong, and the tremendous quiet that rings here like a massive, noiseless bell.

The Fazenda cottages are just as madly cheap. About R200 per person per night.

The real lesson is that all you need for an expedition is your heart and your soul. And, as these cottages in the shade of Tienuurkop show, you can do it quite inexpensively. Just make sure you take along the non-arguing kind of company.

• WHERE TO EAT, WHO TO CONTACT

The La Sosta restaurant in Swellendam is matchless in quality. For bookings at Die Stal, phone Manda at 082869 1766 or go to www.stal.co.za. For the Fazenda log cabins, phone 072499 7879.