A Taste of Darling

With my Birthday falling on a Thursday this year, I decided to make the most of it and take the Friday off. My family and I booked a trip to Darling back in February. So last week Thursday, JP and my sister headed out to Darling to have a relaxing breakaway.

While we were away I tried my hand at filming again but in a much shorter format so that the video isn't terribly long. The video is just to give you a taste of our weekend in Darling and what we got up to.

If you have any trouble viewing the video, it is uploaded to YouTube as well as my Twitter and Instagram accounts.

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Darling is a very quaint little village. It is VERY small and doesn't appear to have much to offer at a first glance. To be honest, upon arriving that Thursday afternoon, I was rather disappointed. The power was out in the village so most of the places were closed and our accommodation was in an absolute state because the poor lady couldn't get things in order before our arrival without power.  Anyway, we managed to get the place sorted out and that evening at 7pm the power came back on.

We started our day off with a breakfast cooked at our accommodation then headed off to Yzerfontein to see what it was like. It is a sleepy sea side village with a truly beautiful coastline. We spent a few hours climbing the rocks along the coast line then headed back to Darling for lunch.

We went to Darling Brewery where we sampled some of the beers and had a really great cheese burger.  The tasting room offers all the beers on tap in 100ml tastings, 350ml or draft glasses. The tastings are done in which ever way you want them where you pay R10 per tasting - you can have as many or as few as you want.  The food menu is limited for options but the food is great.

After our lunch we were so tired that we headed back to our accommodation and decided to relax a bit before my parents arrived with our dogs. We spent the rest of the day chatting and playing board games. It was just so nice to take things slow for a bit.

Saturday morning we headed back to Yzerfontein but this time we went to the main beach so that the dogs could have a bit of a run around. This beach would be absolutely perfect if it had warm waters. to my surprise the coast line had a lot of sea life right on the sea sand that you wouldn't expect.

We headed back to Darling again where JP and I visited the Street Market that was happening and I tried "The Taste of Darling" Gin and Tonic - basically it is a traditional Gin and Tonic but with Pomegranates, Pomegranate Syrup, Lemon and Mint. With the temperature hitting 37 degrees it was a welcomed cool down and so very yummy!

We bought some Turkish Delight, Cheeses and walked around the little market. It isn't like a Cape Town market. At most there were maybe 100 people - it felt intimate and you got a sense that the people there were all friends catching up with each other. There was a lot on offer - food stalls, wine stalls, cheese, honey, beer and so much more. The music was good and the atmosphere was friendly.

We ended off our day with a short jog around the neighborhood followed by a braai overlooking the field in front of our accommodation. The weather was perfect - by braai time it was a pleasant temperature with no wind. We sat chatting outside until bed time - the hours just flew by.

Sunday JP and I headed to Groote Post Winery, where we were lucky to find that there was a Country Market on the go. There were a lot of stalls selling food, crafts, honey, sweets and then of course some wine and beer. While at the winery we did a tasting of a few of their wines. The tasting is free and you can taste as many of the wines as you like. Their MCC Rose Brut is really something special and their Old Timer Red Blend is a perfect easy drinking red wine.

After we had our fill of wine and food, we headed to Langebaan to see the lagoon and get an ice cream. The beach front has a really holiday town feel to it and the beach  was great for walking along - even in shoes. The weather started to turn a bit, so we headed back to Darling because there is a nature reserve close to the place we were staying at and we wanted to check it out before we left.

The nature reserve wasn't really much - the West Coast flora only really comes into its own in September really - when all the wild flowers are in bloom, but the views of the country side were breathtaking, especially with the moody, rainy sky.

Again, we ended our evening off with a braai and chatting outside for hours. It was raining and we were lucky to see a full rainbow across the field. It was a glorious weekend - exactly what I needed. I feel relaxed and comfortable again.

Darling, you were wonderful!

Big Hugs,
Charlene XXX

PS. There are a lot more photos on my Instagram accounts should you want to take a look - Gee_Whiskers and SeiniTravels.