Years ago I visited the Chart Rose Farm when my daughter was a baby. She is now 18 years old which mean it’s been about 17 years since we were last there, so when my husband suggested we have lunch at the Tea Garden I almost fell over!
We arrived to quickly get one of the last available tables and ordered our drinks. The Tea Garden is busy with birthday parties, family gatherings and folk who have come to pick their own roses.
The Chart Rose Farm is set on a hill overlooking the Constantia mountains, which is the far end of the Table Mountain range and a spot we hike regularly. But it’s not often that the day is so clear and crisp that you can see all the mountain peaks. They’re usually shrouded in some form of cloud. It’s a truly magnificent view of the rolling hills and wine farms flanked by the mountains.
My daughter, Taylor, and I headed of to look at the roses before our lunch arrived.
We walked through the shade of a large tree and then out onto a wide lawn before reached the rows and rows of Rose bushes of various sorts.
I didn’t take note of all the names because there were just too many, but the fragrance of the garden was magical. It was like walking through a natural perfumery with the fragrance carried in the gentle breeze.
Here are a few of the roses we saw:
The Garden has some lovely features highlighting the climbing roses followed by more rows of Rose bushes.
We made our way towards the back of the garden where the old Chart Farm House can be found. It’s looks beautiful and is well taken care of. And probably also one of the reasons newly weds come here to take their wedding photos.
We circled around through the many paths ready to get out of the sun and enjoy our lunch. We made one last stop to look at these gorgeous blooms and another glance at the view before heading back to our table.
One of the highlight of the Chart Farm is picking your own roses. They give you a buckets and clippers and off you go cutting your own roses and you are charged R7 per Rose when you get back to the Tea Room. Or you can pay R8 per Rose and pick them out of a bucket of pre-picked roses.
We weren’t interested in picking roses today so we simply walked around the gardens taking photos and leaving the roses to grow and
bloom where they have been planted.
We enjoyed a good lunch and we’re loath to move, but other folk were waiting fir tables so we decided to move on to allow them the pleasure of the garden.
If you’re ever in Cape Town make sure to put The Chart Farm on your list of places to visit. The setting is beautiful, the views magnificent and the roses are to die for!
Next time I’ll bring my mom and enjoy a very big slice of cake and a cappuccino.
