An aerial panoramic shot of Kurland Hotel.
It’s the middle of winter and quiet at the hotel, bar the brown leaves that scratch across the vacant tennis courts. We’ve just arrived at the Kurland near Plettenberg Bay and are on a guided tour. Through the antique main building, we pass the kitchen and then the dining and lounge areas. Fireplaces make cosy the space and light up the faces and landscape paintings on the walls.
As we move into the courtyard and are told the history of the place, cool air sets in the large field enclosed by now leafless trees and we see horses in the distance. There’s something almost haunting about this setting; its desolation feels romantic and the silence is welcoming.
Sometimes it feels as though we are the only guests at the hotel. There aren’t people at the pool area, nor do children fill up the play area. But we can imagine what it might be like in high season: rows of red-and-white-striped beach chairs on which swimsuit-clad holidaymakers chill out and the laughter of youngsters splashing in the water.
Just off the N2 in the Crags on the Garden Route, the manicured property doesn’t seem to resemble any of its neighbours; certainly not the township across the highway. And its grounds aren’t filled with the fynbos that lines the N2 from Tsitsikamma through the Crags and into the Wilderness. Instead, the lawns are surrounded by rolling mountains and beaches beyond the hills.
To get a better sense of the lay of the land, and to work off breakfast’s buttery croissants and syrupy flapjacks, we borrow hotel bicycles and circumnavigate the 700-hectare property. Making our way along the gravel path we pass the stables and the restaurant Katarina’s at the Barn (open in high season only), we pass horses that stop their grazing to stare at us. Inquisitive baboons perch on the wooden pasture fence of the polo pavilion, where matches and weddings are hosted.
We stop and take in the warm winter air. Kurland looks like a postcard that I might have seen (or not), or maybe it could be a setting for a period film.
It’s when my British partner says “This place reminds me of home†that the connection to the English countryside becomes apparent. As we park our bikes on the dewy lawns and the stables and cottages stretch out before us, I see why.
Chatting with third-generation owner Peter Behr reinforces this notion. “Our clients are mainly English,†he says. We’re speaking in the library, decked out with vintage velvet and distressed leather sofas. “I think British people identify well with the country and the space: the way it’s decorated appeals to them, more so than Germans and French.â€
Despite this, there are markers that comfort even me, a South African: the indigenous flora and fauna on the estate, the springbok carpaccio on the dinner menu and the Cape Dutch-style gables where the 12 luxury suites are situated.
After a day trip to Knysna and a massage at the Kurland spa, we hide out and enjoy the pampering treatment guests receive at the hotel. Our suite has a four-poster bed in front of a fireplace, and we order room service that’s presented under the cover of a silver cloche on white linen cloth, just as it is in the dining room.
The estate dates back to 1885, when the owner was Ignatius William Oliver Read. It was bought in 1941 by Behr’s grandfather, Baron Peter Behr, and named after Courlandor or Kurland, the Baltic province from which he came.
Baron Behr planted pine nuts and fruit in the early 1940s. The Russian emigre also tried to grow crops like chicory and tung tree nuts, which failed.
Speaking of his grandfather’s and father’s farming efforts, Behr says: “They planted timber on the farm and had a sawmill across the road, where they processed the wood. And that was their business. Things started going depressed in the wood business in the late 1990s and my dad needed to sell the farm and couldn’t.â€
Behr’s brother-in-law bought the property and, by investing, converted it into a hotel and polo fields. It opened in 2000 with eight rooms. Two years later, it was runner-up in the Tatler Hotel of the Year award.
Despite the hotel being young, it pays homage to the past, from its architecture and ornamented Victorian-like interiors to its china crockery and vintage rugs on original wooden floors. As a black South African guest, I wonder where I fit into its history, present and future.
After an hourlong horse ride, I relax on the verandah overlooking the rose garden and read a brochure about Kurland’s history. Certain words and passages in these pages highlighting South Africa’s colonial past could easily be misconstrued by descendants of those defeated by colonialists.
“In 1941 when Baron and Baroness Behr brought the farm, they came down from Johannesburg with horses, servants and children,†reads one passage. This brings to the fore the servitude history of the country.
Another passage about Baron Peter Behr’s wife reads: “Baroness Ena Behr was a third-generation South African related to Louw Wepenaar [sic], hero of Thaba Bosigo, and the famous renegade of Anglo-Boer War [the South African War].â€
When I do some research, I find that the “hero†description is not consistent across texts; in other books, Wepener is described as a ruthless kommandant who fought on the side of Boers as they attempted to take over Thaba Bosiu, Basotho chief Moshoeshoe I’s stronghold and headquarters during the Free State–Basotho War of 1858.
As South Africa undergoes changes, we look to spaces such as Kurland not to sugarcoat the past, but to reveal it in all its complexity.
With such a rich history on display, Kurland doesn’t seem too fussed about the future. And that makes it a perfect setting for clients not concerned with ultra-modernity too. Features such as underfloor heating, flat screen TVs with DSTV, and wi-fi on the premises fast-track this five-star hotel into the contemporary world.
But for the most part it is a time capsule into yesteryear. So when visiting Kurland, pull on your jodhpurs and enjoy the luxurious ride, sometimes into South Africa’s tumultuous past.
Stefanie Jason was a guest of Kurland Hotel
