Hotel review: Prynnsberg Manor, Clocolan, Free State
In the shadow of the Maluti Mountains, this Victorian sandstone mansion is stunning both inside and out, and caters for groups of up to 16
LOCATION
Between Clocolan and Ficksburg, in the shadow of the Maluti Mountains on the Lesotho/Free State border.
STYLE
It's an awe-inspiring, late-Victorian, sandstone mansion recently restored to its former glory. That includes an English country garden, two churches, a soon-to-be-converted vicarage B&B, 1,200ha of livestock farmland, a polo field and a "glampsite" under the overhang of a massive Maluti boulder.
SERVICE
Owners Rick and Sue Melvill certainly know how to entertain. They'll offer you a welcome drink and give you a tour of the place - which includes the astounding story of the original owners, "the Newberry family and the curse of Clocolan".HOW'S THE GRUB?
We had a superb steak-and-egg dinner and a breakfast fry-up, with some great crisp-fried aubergines.
ACTIVITIES
The estate provides plenty of hiking, trail-running and mountain-biking opportunities, and if horses are your thing then speak to Rick about his polo events (or how about bicycle polo?)There's a full-size billiards table in the games room upstairs.Oh, and if you're in the mood for some under-the-stars cinematic entertainment, ask Rick to screen your favourite movie on the rock face at the back of the house, reportedly created after a lightning strike in the 1950s.FACILITIES
The downstairs rooms have lavish en suite bathrooms that incorporate boulders from the actual mountains.
The upstairs rooms are also suitably spacious and there's a deck of open-air beds for either the kids or the romantic.
In the glamping area, the loos and showers have a gobsmacking view and there's also a luxurious deck and bar and an open-air bath house right under the mountain. The open-air bathhouse, where steaming water is pumped from a genuine Victorian donkey-boiler installed below the mountain, is not to be missed.
RATES
Prynnsberg sleeps 16 in the Manor House at R25,000 a night.
CONTACT
E-mail perfecthideaways.co.za or call 021-790-0972.
• Smith was a guest of Perfect Hideaways...
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