Kurland

Small luxurious country hotel with exquisite rooms, swimming pools, polo stables and spa - fabulous for families

Set on a plateau between the Outeniqua Mountains and the Indian Ocean, this Cape Dutch homestead with its aristocratic ancestry places you on a 700-hectare polo estate close to Nature's Valley and some stunning local beaches.

Kurland captured our hearts as a very special country hotel that succeeds in keeping a sense of family residence. This is no sprawling resort: with only 12 sumptuous rooms you still get oodles of space, but on a scale that allows an intimacy and attention to detail that we love. Everywhere you'll find fragrant fresh roses picked daily from the gardens. You can relax in elegant drawing rooms with crackling fires, sip cocktails on the sun-warmed veranda, or watch the children splash in the pool: better still, have someone else watch them while you get a massage in the spa. If you want colonial style, fine food and gracious living within reach of the Garden Route’s main draws, or if you fancy spoiling yourselves and the children for a few nights, then you'll love it here. Boutique hotels don't get much better than this.

Highs

• The best hotel on the Garden Route and the best small hotel for families we've found anywhere
• Large and lovely grounds, with polo fields, swimming pools (unheated), a tennis court, rose gardens and lawns
• Fabulous big bedrooms with antique furniture, special loft rooms for children and plunge pools
• Attention to detail and excellent unobtrusive service
• The feeling of a private house albeit with lots of facilities, including a spa
• Bags of charm, especially in the sitting rooms in the main house
• Lots to do in the area, from whale- and dolphin-watching boat trips and visits to nearby wildlife sanctuaries to beach picnics and horse riding

Lows

• Fans of minimalism may find some of the bedroom décor a tad elaborate
• If you want to leave the estate you'll need to drive - it's 15 minutes to both the beach (Nature's Valley - huge, sandy and unspoilt) and Plettenberg's town centre - but it thereby avoids the coastal winds and the midsummer crowds
• There's a slight sound of distant traffic from the N2 but this is nit-picking: Kurland is one of our all-time favourites and it's hard to fault!