LINWOOD GUEST FARM
Clarens

I stumbled across Linwood Guest Farm entirely by accident — and I’m really glad I did!
A week or two before a long weekend, I naively began the quest for accommodation in the quaint town of Clarens. Everywhere I looked seemed to return a resounding ‘we’re fully booked’. Eventually I resorted to calling the accommodation bureau of Clarens where a very knowledgeable and helpful man heard my plea.
As it turns out, there was only one room left in the whole town…the honeymoon suite of Linwood Guest Farm. Try explaining that to a guy you’ve been dating less than a year! :P
The cost of a two-night stay seemed too good to be true — but I really wanted to visit Clarens — so I paid the deposit half-expecting to be scammed. Luckily, this wasn’t the case!
We arrived in Clarens on Friday morning to an already bustling hive of activity. Linwood Guest Farm is situated about 6km outside of the town — and later we were grateful for that! The directions were very straight-forward — just as we felt we had gone too far, a sign for the farm signaled for us to turn onto a rocky dust road.
As we drove into the premises I was struck by how beautiful the winter landscape looked, despite the lack of variety of colours that Summer and Spring invariably bring. The farm is on what seemed like hectares and hectares of bright orange and amber-leafed trees.
Unfortunately the beauty of the scenery was contrasted with dilapidated buildings in the throws of being rebuilt on the hill just behind the last units. While this was a bit of an eyesore, it certainly didn’t ruin my perception of the farm and if anything, made me excited that more units were going to be built.
Our search for a reception area was unfruitful until we came across a neatly dressed school girl (presumably who works for the Guest Farm after school hours) who didn’t say much but but gestured for us to follow her to our suite.
Our suite was a Victorian-era-inspired Clarens masterpiece! The Cato unit, as it’s called, is open plan, with an impressive-looking bed, two beautifully upholstered chairs surrounding a warm fire, a small kitchenette, and a bathroom. Linwood has 6 units which you can choose based on your requirements for the weekend. Each unit has a verandah area while the Cato unit boasts a private garden and a small outdoor braai area.
Our room was beautifully serviced each day; new fire wood was stacked into our fireplace, dishes washed and the towels were neatly replaced each morning. We were truly spoilt! Hailing from the big bad city of Johannesburg, it took a while for me to be at ease with the lack of high, electrified walls, guards and alarm systems. However, the farm had hired a lovely night guard which definitely went some way in quelling my fears.
The only criticism we had was that we didn’t really get to interact with anyone who worked there and at times we felt a bit spare. There’s something about having a formalised ‘checking in’ process that reassures the visitor that they are in fact in the right place and makes them feel welcomed; no one took our name, checked that we had paid or double-checked which unit we had booked. I somehow can’t decide if that was part of the farm’s charm — or if my feelings of neglect were founded.
Having said that, our stay at Linwood Guest Farm is certainly one that we will remember long into the future. Given how busy the town was throughout the weekend, we couldn’t have been happier with our choice to stay a little way out of the hustle and bustle of Clarens and enjoy the peace and serenity that Linwood offers its guests. We will certainly be back!
To find out more, go to their website or follow us on Instagram!
