Winter has been the season of delays, our newsletter certainly being a case in point but compared to other issues, the least of our tardy worries.

Perusing our last musings in autumn, we can only sigh at our ignorance in singing

praises to the abundant rainfall; we now stand in shocked awe of how mother nature really does call the shots, obliterating Meiringspoort and causing countless road closures that effectively cut off our town for a good few weeks. As we tap out these lines, we adjust to life with the only tarred road option between us and the Garden Route/Klein Karoo being indefinitely closed, anything up to two years for the rebuild. Although the alternative route over the Swartberg Pass has officially reopened, cancellations are rife due to fear of traveling the unknown, tourism in Prince Albert limps along as visitor numbers are down by over half. Besides the hard work of coaxing visitors to town via the bumpier gravel option, organising supplies has been a logistical nightmare. Every item is now ferried over less than smooth terrain, and in hindsight not the best time for us to have attempted two room renovations, more on this later!

But behind every natural disaster is a silver lining, we urge you to read on and discover that not not all is doom and gloom - we promise to have your spirits lifted before you get to the end of our somewhat delayed Winter Words.

Sending love together with greetings of optimism,

Albert, Inga, and the DKG Team to include Ferdinand and Ella xxx

Speaking of delays, even our wondrous news had to take a back seat - somewhere between buttoning up the hatches and trying our best not to be swept away in great torrents down the Dorps River, a quiet Tripadvisor email landed in our inbox notifying us of things we would normally have shouted from the rooftops had we not been busy contemplating said rooftop as a way of keeping our feet dry.

Now that we have found relative calm after the storms, we certainly are thrilled to announce that Dennehof Karoo Guesthouse moved up the ranks again in the Tripadvisor’s Travellers Choice Awards from 6th place in Africa in 2025 to 21st place in the WORLD rankings in 2026!

Thank you every guest that has contributed to this achievement through your beautiful reviews, we are positively honored, even if in disbelief, to rank amongst the Best of the Best in the world

Herewith the first post natural disaster silver lining - Droë Waterval on the Swartberg Pass looking not so ‘droog’, a spectacular sight to behold!

The breathtaking beauty of the pass has been enhanced even further after the masses of rain, and the route currently being our main access from/to the Garden Route and Klein Karoo, is definitely no drawback. Every visitor should experience the majestic UNESCO World Heritage Site at least once, and being ‘forced’ to drive it is certainly no punishment: incredible views, staggering rock formations, and perfect nature will delight at every turn, with long-dormant waterfalls now showing their purpose in life.

Come visit, we know you will enjoy the ride!

Silver lining number two: the wild flowers are blooming beautiful! While everything else seems to have fallen behind schedule, the flowers came early and put on a show that made us all forget our water-logged woes for a while. Carpets of yellow, orange, pink, and white are spread across Prince Albert like tipped over paint pots using the Great Karoo soil as their canvas.

We love how Mother Nature sent us the rain chaos and then presented a wide-spread bouquet of flowers, a peace deal of sorts?

Our most challenging room renovations to date but looking at the butterfly that emerged from the Windmill Room caterpillar, perseverance paid off, we hope you agree.

Persistent rain, road closures at every turn between George and Prince Albert, getting each item over the Swartberg Pass with Meiringspoort closed, tested our nerves for sure: porcelain tiles, shower glass, fireplaces, bathroom fittings, building materials (all plural as we attempted two rooms), most definitely ended in a case of shot nerves!

But as we take a step back from the chaos that was and survey the resulting handiwork, our nerves are slowly being soothed - we love our two new spaces and we know you will too.

Going green in more ways than one - Windmill Room with her soothing Sage, Windmill Suite showing off in elegant emerald, spaces where we know our guests will happily linger longer.

On the silver lining side, if we survived these renovations, we can survive anything - bring on the next project … but maybe only next year.

Thank you to the fabulous team that kept their nerve while we were loosing ours, and ensured our perfectionist tendencies were appeased:

Dorrien Tissiman- Malachite Projects

Ebi Al Alawi - Artisanal Woodcraft

We love spoiling our guests with yumminess baked in the Dennehof Karoo Guesthouse kitchen, carefully sourcing the best ingredients and making from scratch, with care, to ensure each bite is full of happiness  and goodness.

These quieter months have given us opportunity to tweak recipes and experiment with new ones, time on our hands could be seen as a feint silver lining.

Ottolenghi inspired oat and cranberry biscuits welcome you on check-in, our famous family recipe rusks accompany your in-room tea and coffee sessions, patiently formulated granola gets your taste buds happily set for the day, and our experimental rosemary shortbread biscuits are the perfect side act to our breakfast beverages.

Through rain and storm havoc, our faithful citrus trees remained stoic, performing as sweetly as ever. Mandarins, navel oranges, Thai limes, lemons, and kumquats graced the guesthouse gardens, but most notable is our 1 meter high grapefruit that boasted 32 fruit on one little tree!

And the best news, just as the last deliciousness  has been picked and eaten, developing blossoms offer the promise of the cycle beginning again.

There is only one thing better than our scrumptious homemade sourdough bread - our scrumptious homemade sourdough bread bedecked with marvelous multi-award winning Jackal+Wolf marmalade!

James van Hasselt’s famous citrus preserves won two golds at the Dalemain World Marmalade Awards last year, and silver previously, truly putting Prince Albert on the marmalading map.

Jackal+Wolf is available at the Dennehof Karoo Guesthouse breakfast table, but if the craving hits hard, available for sale at Gay’s Guernsey Dairy.

Our region grows the most superb citrus, any marmalade maker and taster will agree!

Not to be outdone by the citrus, our gooseberries have also been putting on a little sideshow, gracing guest breakfast plates with a colour pop. We love how these beautiful little golden orbs, aptly named ‘appelliefie’ in Afrikaans’, are as decorative as they are tasty.

Silver lining number three: wine, and lots of it, which ties in with a few wonderful events coming up that will hopefully bring visitors to our town in numbers, giving the hospitality sector a much needed boost.

We look forward to the third annual Vino Camino event 14 and 15 August, and to hosting three of our favorite winemakers, Mondvol, Hartenberg, and Peter Bayly Wines.

Come sip and be merry, the town of Prince Albert will thank you for it!

Coming up end September and a culmination of all the flower glory around us is the fourth Prince Albert Open Gardens. Be sure to join us for a weekend of beautiful and sustainable Karoo gardens, as well as walks, talks and workshops covering topics to feed every garden and outdoor enthusiasts needs - full schedule available on the Prince Albert Open Gardens website.

We leave you with a final image of Dennehof Karoo Guesthouse nestled within a very green scene. It seems we cleverly preempted this past season’s colour palette, our sage and emerald interiors fitting in well!

We hope after reading Dennehof Diaries “Winter Words” you feel green with envy and inspired to visit our post-rain paradise, the flowers alone are worth the drive, but if you need more convincing, the promise of true Karoo hospitality will cement your decision making.

Please stick around for our  "Spring Scribblings” and any tidbits in between.

Thank you for your support, it will be our pleasure to have you visit us soon.