ADVENTURE
MAGNOLIA ROOM
Apart from the usual features you might expect in a hotel, it also has a large performance venue and a cinema. The hotel doubles as an art gallery, where many of the pieces adorning the walls are for sale. Anything that doesn’ t sport a price tag is part of the hotel’ s private collection.
While you may be tempted to stay indoors and stare at the walls, the Karoo Art Hotel is the perfect base from which to explore the rest of Barrydale, which is equally quirky, colourful and mesmerising.
Just across the road you will find the Magpie Art Collective, an inspiring upcycled / found object art studio that makes you wonder what you’ re even doing with your life, as well as“ Seriously, what is ampoule couture?”( FYI, it’ s a type of beaded decoration that you hang on a light bulb, by the way, and, yes, I want one.)
A short stroll away, Yamu Botanicals grows indigenous plants for regenerative farming and medicinal tinctures. You can join a garden walk through a fynbosrehabilitated olive grove and sample their herbal creations.
Also on the street, you’ ll find Die Langhuis, a store and café with a bed & breakfast on site. The antiques and homeware items are exquisite, but the tea room is going on the Pinterest board of my soul. Birdcages, brightly coloured ginger jars and plants line the room, while sunlight pours in through large windows. In the centre stands a grand table draped with a floral tablecloth, its centrepiece a mix of candlesticks and vases each holding a single flower. I’ m convinced tea tastes better in a room this beautiful.
For lunch, follow the R62 to Diesel & Crème. Their burgers and milkshakes are legendary, but so are the shelves of kewpie dolls and rubber ducks. You can eat beneath a carousel horse or outside beside the“ graveyard” of old ride-on creatures that are faded, cracked, and oddly beautiful. Look up and you’ ll spot an airplane suspended like an impractical gazebo.
MAGPIE ART COLLECTIVE
A drive through the Tradouw Pass is an absolute must if you’ re staying here. It’ s more breathtaking than quirky, but play your cards right, and you might convince Rick Melvill to chauffeur you there in Sputnik, the iconic 1980s Rolls-Royce often sighted outside the hotel and which has ferried the likes of Fokofpolisiekar and Helen Zille around town. He might even make you a G & T for the road. What an experience! Except, I’ ve never been so afraid of spilling a drink in my life!
Down the road is the House of Books, a bookshop with a misleading name as it takes up not one, but two houses. The owner, Anton de Villiers, is an interesting character with many fascinating anecdotes about books and the interesting people he’ s encountered in his store. But be warned: if he doesn’ t like you, he may refuse to sell you anything. His collection is impressive, and if you really want to make his day, take some books with you to donate.
Another interesting character you have to meet before leaving Barrydale is the barman at the Karoo Art Hotel. Mo will have you enthralled by the story of the bar’ s namesake, Anna Jordaan, who is said to haunt it. But it’ s his own story as one of the first people of colour to join the South African Air Force, and his role in building the first Cheetah aircraft that is even more fascinating.
Before checking out, guests are invited to leave a quote on the blackboard by the entrance. I wrote,“ All you need is just one happy thought and you can fly.” – a nod to the fairy figurines at Papa Joe’ s Collectibles, another of Barrydale’ s eccentric treasures.
Because after just a few days here, I realised I had no wisdom to offer. Barrydale already knows how to live – slower, brighter, freer … It’ s proof that when people follow their quirks without apology, the world becomes art.
SUMMER 2025 / 26 • rovesa. co. za | 53