We started our day off in Tableview at 08h45. South Africa had Heritage Day on Wednesday 24th September so as a result our drive across town was smooth riding. Not much traffic for this time of the morning and after collecting the Constantia ladies, we headed along Baden Powell Drive which provides a beautiful view of the sea along the way.
Our arrival in Grabouw at about 10h45 at the Elgin Free Range Chicken factory shop started a shopping cavalcade! When it was announced that I had added a chicken factory shop to the program one would have thought that I was giving them a fabulous treat by the oohs and aahs that were heard.
This shop sells all sorts of free range chicken products / some duck products (duck breasts and duck fat) / & eggs to die for with their unusually large size! The tills rang out and the cooler boxes were full in no time.
Next stop was the Peregrine Farmstall which is always a woman-pleaser to ‘stock up’ on bakery goods – “Hey Carol they have lamb and waterblommetjie pies in stock” to “Wow the apple turnovers look great” …….many a lady spent time before getting back on the coach nibbling on their purchases. I believed we had all purchased so much that it might have been easier to just find a river and enjoy a picnic – instead of going to a restaurant!!
Our next stop was the Platform 1 Eatery and Winters Drift wine tasting room.
The Elgin railway station was not used for many years and had gone into total disrepair. The owners of Platform 1 Eatery saw the potential and worked extensively on the building.
The building now houses:
A waiting room (with hats and scarves) where most of the ladies (and our 2 men who were with us) had fun trying on hats!
The Winters Drift tasting room where delicious wine was available to taste
The Platform 1 Eatery which is a small restaurant (only seats 34 at a push).
Lunch was soon available – platters which disappointingly did not come up to scratch. Minimum quantities served on a wooden board with not much finesse! This is being addressed with the management.
What saved the day was the fact that dessert was the most awesome baked cheesecake, served with ice cream. Many of the ladies commented it was the BEST cheesecake they had eaten in a long while.
After a lengthy lunch with much conversation and laughter it was time to board the coach and head back to the city.
We arrived back in Constantia by just on 16h00 and back to Tableview by just before 17h00.
A fun day spent with lovely company had one of our ladies (who hadn’t been on an outing for years) saying: “Time Out Is Fun”