Thanks to a particularly long winter, the colourful clivias are still in flush at Babylonstoren, and the gardening team is eagerly awaiting the season’s first spring peas.
The arrival of warmer weather also signals a new season for the most revered garden workers – Cape honeybees – in the Babylonstoren garden. Join entomologist and beekeeper Arné Stander in October to discover the secret life of bees at Babylonstoren.
Celebrate Garden Day
Is there any better way to welcome the turn of the new growing season than in one of SA's best loved gardens, hat in hand? On 20 October, Babylonstoren will throw open the garden gates to celebrate Garden Day. Join in and enjoy a sunset tour of the Babylonstoren garden on an exclusive guided walk, followed by a flame-to-fork harvest braai at the Greenhouse Restaurant. Spaces are limited and booking essential.
You can also join the team to create a head-turning flower crown using fynbos and greenery. Let your inner florist bloom as the garden team help you create your own garden goddess headpiece.
Click HERE to book your spot for Garden Day.
Clink!
Find your quench in the lead-up to summer with a signature refresher from Babylonstoren. Whether you’re sophisticated, sassy, sweet or romantic, the farm-inspired range has something to suit your style. In October, you can buy any 6 bottles of wine or 4 alcohol-free drinks and get the lowest priced one for free.
Shop the Babylonstoren Drinks Promo online with free delivery nationwide.
All hail the King of Babylonstoren
Babylonstoren’s flagship red blend, the royal red Nebukadnesar 2022, has claimed its rightful place among the best Bordeaux blends in SA. It scored a whopping 95 points in the recent Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report, convened by Winemag.co.za. No surprise, considering its fine graphite and cedar notes that seamlessly incorporate botanical elements of spiced black cherries, blueberries, plums, oregano, thyme, fresh walnuts and a beautiful floral bouquet of violets and pansies.
Enjoy immediately or wait for it to grow in stature and complexity over the next ten years.
Psst! It’s also available in a 1.5 litre magnum in the Farm Shop and online store.
Click HERE to shop it online.
SA’s best stay
The Babylonstoren Farm Hotel is now officially the best hotel in South Africa according to the latest Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards.
More than 575 000 Condé Nast Traveler readers across the United States participated in the annual Readers’ Choice Awards, sharing their experiences from around the globe and revealing the places they most eagerly anticipate revisiting.
It marks the fourth consecutive year that Babylonstoren claimed top laurels in the category, continually capturing visitors’ hearts with its groves of citrus, enchanting edible garden and freedom of movement on a working Boland farm.
To soak in the sunshine, guests at the Babylonstoren Farm Hotel can cycle through the budding vineyards, pick something to snack on straight from the tree and dip their toes into the cool water channels.
Click HERE to book your stay.
Sister act
Did you know Babylonstoren shares its farming foundations with a few other farms across the globe? In the UK, The Newt in Somerset is a working estate with acres of splendid gardens, woodland, farmland and cyder orchards to explore. And in Italy, on the enigmatic Chianti hills among the forests and streams, Vignamaggio organic farm has been in operation since 1404. Vineyards, olive groves, vegetable gardens and luxuriant fruit orchards cover their more than 400 hectares.
A newly opened experience awaits visitors at Over-Amstel Boerderij in The Netherlands. Over-Amstel is located on the Amstel River in the Duivendrechtse Polder, a region near Amsterdam with a rich history. The farm was built in 1894, but agricultural buildings existed on the site before then.
Berry bliss
Jam ’em, bake ’em or snack ’em whole. There’s an abundance of berries from the Babylonstoren garden this spring and we have picked them especially for you in a variety of packs to enjoy at home.
Click HERE to place an order.
Meet me under the macadamia blossoms
For one swift and sacred season of the year, Greenhouse Restaurant visitors can dine under a fragrant shower of macadamia blossoms.
Described by poet and botanist C. Louis Leipoldt (1880–1947) as the prettiest month of all (“die mooiste, mooiste maand”), October is the time to admire the sight and scent of macadamia blossoms before sitting down for a spot of tea with freshly baked scones.
Workshops in October
- 1 October – Grow your own seasonal vegetables
- 2 October – Craft your own homemade soaps
- 4 October – Bake your own: make butter & buttermilk scones
- 9 October – Discover the secrets of traditional Italian balsamic vinegar
- 10 October – Taste of spring: Grandma’s green fig preserve
- 15 October – Garden Day: create your own flower crown
- 16 October – Discover the secret life of bees
- 17 October – Garden Day: create your own flower crown
- 19 October – Plant your own heritage food orchards and veggie garden
- 18 October – Distillation: make your own witblits & craft a gin
- 23 October – Discover the healing powers of herbs
- 24 October – Pasta from scratch with olive pesto
- 25 October – Traditional needlework: the basics of colourful quilting
- 29 October – Plant your own heritage food orchards and veggie garden
- 30 October – Discover the secret life of bees
To book your spot at one of our workshops, click HERE.
