My mom has seen her only grandson and now obviously wants him for more than just an afternoon, understandably so. It has been 7 months since she’s seen him. I anticipated this, so I booked us a holiday on holiday! Yep, we’re leaving our son behind for 4 nights to go away on holiday from our holiday.
We have booked at the Drakenberg gardens, golf and spa resort, and judging by the pics from the website, it’ll be good. But it does require an almost 5 hour drive but the other alternative was Mozambique which required more driving time and a 4X4.
So we leave, fairly on time. But once again the Apple imaps got us lost. We drove half an hour past our turn off! I was not impressed, to say the least and my bum was rather tender at this point. And because we’re up somewhere in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, there was barely any signal on our phone. So phoning the resort was a bit of a challenge. But we finally found a spot that would let us get 60 seconds of coverage.
The resort was 35 minutes from town, which doesn’t seem like much until you see the road to town. Nicely tarred but I have never driven through so many curves in my life. We should’ve been on the bike!
So needless to say we stayed within the resort, but there was plenty to do. It was the Gooderson’s Drakensberg gardens, golf and spa resort, rated 3 stars. It offered an 18 hole golf course, putt putt, horse riding through the hills and valleys, mountain biking and walking through the trails, picnic spots and tours over the famous Sani pass. Those were only outdoor activities.
In the resort we had 4 restaurants, a bar with a dance floor; pool and proper snooker tables. And there were planned activities for children everyday and themed activities at the bar. My dear husband did karaoke for the first time in his life, he did fairly considering but singing should be left to professionals. I Adele’d away through the night after a few glasses of wine. Let’s just say I sound much better in the shower.
They even offered a range of board games which we truly enjoyed
The service and interaction with the staff was properly five star! Such attentiveness and attention to detail was quite refreshing. Why can’t all resorts and hotels have staff like this? From the General manager always coming around and striking conversation, the entertainment manager Ty who I had very interesting and deep life conversation with and even rescued my husband a few times while attempting karaoke, to very good and always smiling waiters, kitchen staff and receptionists.
The only disappointing things were; the room that was too basic for our liking for the price we paid; the lack of television as the cables got blown by the Lightning on our first night; the water not fit for human consumption but not putting water bottles in the rooms. We had to buy water to drink! And the room had zero 2 pin plugs, se we struggled to charge any of our many phones and iPads or shavers.
But a truly enjoyable experience, and I would go back in a heartbeat. I’ll definitely bring my son next time, he would’ve enjoyed it so much. It really catered for all ages. They created such a conducive atmosphere that guests were happy, sociable and a lot of fun. Made a few friends!
So the review scoring:
The location = 9/10 – point lost by the distance to town when you need to get something you haven’t packed.
The room = 6/10 – because of the size, the plugs and lack of TV
The food = 7/10 – The buffet served at the main restaurant was outstanding, so many options and deliciously cooked. But the other ala carte restaurants weren’t very impressive and quite limited in their options.
The entertainment = 10/10 – The entertainment manager knows what he’s doing 😁!
The service = 10/10 – truly spectacular!
The overall experience = 8/10
Highly recommended, I came home feeling much relaxed and ready for the Christmas hustle and bustle! And I miss my son now.
Thank you very much for your photo report, it was very fun and interesting!
LikeLike