Swellendam Country House - Find and Book Country Accommodation in Swellendam at Schoone Oordt Country House

Well, season is nearly over... Can you believe it? The Easter Weekend marks the official end of our Summer Season and the beginning of quieter, cooler days. What a wonderfully busy time it has be... Read more...

It's always wonderful to see our names in print and here we are, featured in the local Sunday Times on the 5th Feb along with fantastic things to do in Swellendam. Apologies for the not-so-great qual... Read more...

I have to share with you how utterly excited I am about our little fledgling restaurant... Eighteen53... Rich and I had dinner last Thursday night and it was so delicious I wanted to dance a jig on ... Read more...

We've hit the media a bit over the last few months and would love to share with you. David Batzofin and his very lovely wife, Caro, came to stay with us for a weekend whilst they explored our gorge... Read more...

Well, as you can tell by the tardiness of this post, we have been wonderfully, madly busy and boy, are we grateful! Thank you to the wonderful people that have chosen to stay with us over the silly se... Read more...

We are very excited to announce that Gian Groen will be playing a live, intimate and unplugged session at Schoone Oordt on the 21st December this year! Gian Groen is an Afrikaans singer(although he... Read more...

It took us a little while to recover, but WOW, what a merry, gorgeous, loving, fabulous four-day wedding. Louis and Nicholas chose the auspicious 11th of the 11th 2011 at 11am to get married. Spooki... Read more...

Mark & Katja got back from their mini-moon yesterday and forwarded stunning wedding pictures to us. It was so difficult to choose only two, but here they are! Katja also dropped me an email with t... Read more...

Wander, our lovely head chef and manager is not only a creator of fine food, but he has a wonderful eye. This was taken on the road down to the De Hoop Nature Reserve, about 12km out of Swellendam. ... Read more...

We had the honour of sharing Mark & Katja's special weekend wedding on the 22nd of October at Schoone Oordt. Great people, gorgeous dress, lovely attention to detail. We are still waiting on pictu... Read more...

In keeping with the fabulous places to eat in Swellendam, one of our favourite lunchtime spots is about to celebrate their 10th birthday! What we particularly love about The Old Gaol (besides the... Read more...

We congratulate Gianni & Cristiana on the spectacular intimate and personal Italian eatery that they have created down the road from us. Not only has La Sosta been voted the no.1 restaurant in Swelle... Read more...

Last week we said goodbye to our beautiful Oscar. Those of you that met him will remember him for his quiet ownership of the foyer couch (and the property), his chin on your knee and his loving smile... Read more...

We have had the most beautiful 'crop' of lemons this year, even some very very strangely shaped ones with tons of juice. This is our wonderful gardener, Cuthbert, holding a massive bowl of them. I... Read more...

Today I have a story to tell... Back when we first moved to Swellendam, we met a quirky, creative, talented designer called Bruce Geils who had also just moved to Swellendam from Cape Town. So, wh... Read more...

Such great news, I am so excited... The wonderful Wander and Sonette Bester, along with Hachi, Shadow and Leo have joined our Schoone Oordt team from an exclusive Game Reserve in the Northern Cape... Read more...

With thanks to Natasha Bezuidenhout (excerpt from the article published Cape Argus 22 Jun 2011) 'Swellendam has renamed itself the New Republic of 'community, unity, love, art, music, good food and... Read more...

We are doing SO well on tripadvisor! How wonderful... and a HUGE thank you to those spectacular guests that have made that happen. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Here is the link to the TOP 1... Read more...

In October of last year, we joined the Inspirational Places portfolio of fabulous, unique and intimate properties http://www.inspirationalplaces.com and decided to exhibit with them this year at Indab... Read more...

Dear Friends... It... Read more...

We have some very, very exciting news! Breakfasts have always been made with love and a certain flair at Schoone Oordt. Now, dinners will be too. Koornlands Restaurant, one of the top eateries in... Read more...

Richard and I met Karen and Brian at Phantom Forest http://www.phantomforest.co.za in Knysna about 7 years ago. Kai (our son) was just on a year and Richard and I had snuck away to celebrate his birt... Read more...

Gill, Gideon & Jake came to spend a weekend with us about a week ago with a view to networking and experiencing each other's properties. It's always a good thing to chat about ideas and brainstorm a ... Read more...

Well, we've had a super busy season, our best so far, which is why the diary pages have been so quiet. Thank you to all of our wonderful guests for making that happen and a very big thank you to all ... Read more...

Once again the mad cyclists descended on Swellendam for the Double Century race this year. What fun! We are so grateful for the exposure and income that this endurance race brings to our town and I ... Read more...

It has taken such a long time to put fresh news up on our diary page, I'm so sorry, but it's been a very busy period filled with both exciting and sad happenings... The most exciting and beautiful,... Read more...

Im so excited We received a cd of digital images from Jonty and Ashleigh wedding yesterday and I couldnt wait to open the parcel. Wade Howard flew in from Natal especially for the occasion and his pi... Read more...

Ad and Lynn were very kindly referred to us by Jonine from Mardouw a beautiful country house about 20mins out of Swellendam. They were unfortunately (though fortunately for us) fully-booked so Ad and ... Read more...

Weve had a wonderfully busy Festive Season at Schoone Oordt this year with both family and guests. The children were spoilt absolutely rotten (as usual) we ate lots of lovely food (as usual) and enter... Read more...

The Coronation Double Century Cyclists descended on Swellendam again this year, for the weekend of the 21st and 22nd November. What an honour and privilege for all of the businesses in Swellendam to ... Read more...

We had a lovely evening with Weltevrede Wine Estate and Friends Caterers at Schoone Oordt last Thursday evening. Hanli invited a host of Swellendam guesthouse owners to sample her scrumptious fare an... Read more...

On the 16th August, on what turned out to be a gorgeously sunny Sunday, Heinrich and Sonja tied the knot at Schoone Oordt. I honestly believe that hosting such happiness feeds this old house’s soul, n... Read more...

Quite shortly after Aleit and Karla came to stay, Christina and Richard from Wedding Concepts http://www.weddingconcepts.co.za came up for a weekend. I'd met Christina a few years back when she'd c... Read more...

I am terribly behind on my diary pages and such a lot has been happening at Schoone Oordt lately - very exciting things, but I must begin at the beginning! We had the most amazing kuier (visit) wee... Read more...

I wanted to take a picture of Richard straddling the roof attaching the broekie lace (filigree), but I just missed him. So, took pictures of the completed project instead. The conservatory is lookin... Read more...

Well, its been very quiet at Schoone Oordt lately. It being that sort of middle season where its not cold enough for people to want to get out of the city yet, but its definitely no longer summer! ... Read more...

The weekend after the cyclists left, we welcomed Bedine Rossouw's close family and friends to Schoone Oordt. Bedine, along with her mom, dad, sisters and maid of honour spent the day here getting read... Read more...

The 1st April was an important day for us. We opened two new rooms to accommodate a lovely booking from the Shane Thomson Cycling Team (Fullimput 1387) for the Cape Epic. Just in time for the end of... Read more...

It's amazing how quickly time goes... I've been wanting to upload the pics from Easter for, well 3 weeks now. We had such a brilliant Easter weekend - chock a block full with South African guests. ... Read more...

Two brilliant Netherlanders, Willem & Linda called us en route to Cape Town to see if we had place for them that night. We did, obviously and it was such a pleasure having them to stay They arrived o... Read more...

Schoone Oordt was the setting for a nostalgic reunion in January 2008. Santa Hofmeyr-Joubert, who spent many happy years living in this house from the early 1970s, booked a few of our suites for a we... Read more...

There has been a very bare wall in the foyer/reception area for the longest time and we've often spoken about putting a beautiful painting of the house onto it. A few months ago, whilst browsing at th... Read more...

I've been meaning to upload these images for a while. Isi & Verron looked so cool in their gowns and slippers relaxing on their patio with a late afternoon coffee that I had to take a pic. They spen... Read more...