View Photo Collage at end of Report.
Darling Wildflower show is held annually to showcase the flowers that grow abundantly in the area. This year they held the flower show next to the Museum in the Motor Museum and visitors flocked to the fabulous Darling.
We started our tour in drizzle; and drove through in grey skies – but on arrival at the Duckitt/Darling Orchids the sun shone briefly. We enjoyed the stunning white orchids in the one hot-house which was open to the public . They have a few stalls selling olives; jams; shoes & clothing; and of course, a huge barn with orchid merchandise. It was lovely to see that they had catered for the public who just wanted to purchase a single orchid stem @ R15 and 3 orchids @ R45 – and of course, their well-established orchids which were going out to cars by the trolley load!
After this we headed to the Darling Museum and the Wildflower show. They have a few specimen tables where individual flowers are well catalogued as well as an impressive month-by-month of what flowers grow in Darling. The entrance to the Darling Museum was included with your entrance ticket which is a super addition. Our group all mentioned they enjoyed the museum which is very well kept!
A large marquee was erected over the road from the museum and housed local Darling Wine Estates and the Darling Brewery – seating was made up of bales of hay with a few tables and chairs. They had a live DJ pumping music; interesting dried fruit and another stall selling delicious nuts in various forms. As it was still very cool the coffee truck had the longest line as well as the food truck selling jaffles; hot chips; etc. “Pity that there was not much ‘local craft’ at the market” said one lady in our group but overall, a good place to while away about 2 hours – catching up with old friends and enjoying the company of new people! The Contreberg Wine Estate did well from our group with several bottles being taken back to Cape Town.
We then headed to Evita se Perron where one can browse the old Apartheid Museum collection; do shopping for Darling Sweets; Swartland Kitchen rusks; and enjoy a light meal in the two available restaurants – Kossie Sikelele and the restaurant where Pieter Dirk Uys still does shows periodically. One of our group suggested chocolate cake and 3 slices were ordered with lattes; rooibos tea – a great way to end the day of touring around Darling.
The End