The KwaZulu-Natal Midlands is one of our favourite areas to explore in South Africa. This beautiful countryside is known for it’s tree lined roads, lush green pastures with cattle, rolling hills, winding roads and a selection of delicious eateries and hidden gems. We have been very lucky to have visited this area countless times. Each time we visit, we hope to find new places we haven’t been to before. On a recent visit, we discovered the beautiful Brahman Hills.
Getting to Brahman Hills
Brahman Hills is a short four hour drive from Johannesburg. The drive is very simple too. All you do is take the N3 towards Durban and carry on straight until Nottingham Road turn off. As you turn off the highway, Brahman Hills is right there! What I love about the location is that once you get off the highway, you don’t have to drive for miles. This makes Brahman Hills a perfect stopover on a drive to Durban.
Brahman Hills
Don’t let the thought of the highway being so close by scare you. As you drive through the main gate into Brahman Hills, another world welcomes you. A world where the only sounds are of nature and wildlife. The property is inside the Blue Crane Nature Reserve, so you will be greeted by a herd or two of Zebra, buck and impala and the very famous Brahman Cows.
Brahman Hills has a hotel as well as self catering cottages. The hotel has 30 rooms and 12 self catering cottages. While the hotel itself looks beautiful we never got a chance to see inside as we stayed in a self catering cottage.
The facilities include two restaurants, a beautiful spa and two multipurpose eventing facilities which are both perfect for a wedding or conference. A little interesting fact is that Brahman Hills is so popular for weddings, there is a wedding booked for every weekend of the year.
Each self catering cottage is beautifully designed and decorated and comes with a fully stocked kitchen, en suite bathroom, a braai area and the one thing we absolutely loved during our stay at Brahman Hils, a jacuzzi. We’ve never experienced anything more beautiful than sitting in a jacuzzi, watching the sun go down in front of us and waiting for some Zebra to stroll past us.
The Food at Brahman Hills
Brahman Hills has two restaurants on the premises to choose from. There is Brahman Café and 89 on Copper. So even though we stayed in a self catering cottage, we had breakfast at Brahman Café and dinner at 89 on Copper.
Breakfast at Brahman Café
Brahman Café is the family-friendly restaurant situated at the hotel. Here you will have breakfast and a la carte lunch and dinner. Both mornings we woke up excitedly and rushed for breakfast in the café. The breakfasts did not disappoint and together with our delicious breakfasts, we enjoyed panoramic views of the beautiful countryside.
Dinner at 89 on Copper
89 on Copper is situated underneath the hotel in the old but very cozy wine cellar. This restaurant is more of a premium dining option. We enjoyed a 3 course dinner here and the food was rustic and beautifully presented. For starters we each had a tomato and basil soup, for mains we had beef jalapavoh and for dessert we enjoyed dark chocolate brownies with mint and honey ice cream.
Dining underground in a converted wine cellar added to the whole experience and definitely made it a dinner to remember. There are no windows but there is a gorgeous array of different level hanging light, wall light boxes and candles. This made it incredibly and utterly romantic!
The Spa
A little interesting fact about the Spa at Brahman Hills is that it was once home to Winks Green and her Racing Patients. If you are wondering who Winks was, she was the go-to healer of horses from far and wide. Now the space is home to the Spa which is made up of 8 treatment rooms, a dedicated manicure and pedicure room, a tranquility lounge and a champagne, coffee and chocolate bar.
I was lucky to have a spa treatment during our stay at Brahman Hills and I must say that a day spent being pampered in the country side with a backdrop of picturesque views will definitely be hard to beat in the future!
Have you been to the Midlands before?
For more information on Brahman Hills, please go to:
*disclaimer – I was invited to stay as a guest of Brahman Hills
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