Nelson Mandela’s house turned into a hotel
The presidential home of the revered late South African leader has been turned into a boutique hotel.
It became the tranquil retreat of Nelson Mandela after his release from Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, and it has hosted the likes of Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton. Now the former South African president’s home has been turned into a boutique hotel that pays tribute to his life’s work.
Located in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, Sanctuary Mandela has just nine individual guestrooms accommodating a total 18 people. Each has objects on display that reflect Mandiba’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning role as an anti-Apartheid activist, political leader and social rights campaigner, including black and white photographs and copies of his numerous books. The decor has a retro vibe, with mid-century-style furnishings and pressed-metal ceilings plus occasional splashes of African tribal art and craft. Surveying the atrium is the famous portrait of a gloved-up Mandela in his boxing days, while the restaurant draws on his favourite homely dishes, as prepared by his private chef of 20 years.
The property is surrounded by lush gardens featuring quiet nooks designed for contemplation and mindfulness, but there’s fun to be had as well at the swimming pool and fully serviced bar.
Sanctuary Mandela is within walking distance of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, home of the not-for-profit foundation he established and a comprehensive archive of his achievements.
Rooms from R4000 ($360) a night.
PENNY HUNTER
FORWARD PLANNER
Join the queue for the hottest ticket in Sydney. The highly anticipated Oncore by triple Michelin-starred British chef Clare Smyth opens on Thursday at Crown Sydney in Barangaroo. Located on the twisting tower’s 26th floor, the 68-seat venue is serving refined cuisine with a side order of spectacle – sweeping vistas of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Expect plenty of Australian produce, including Shiro Kin Wagyu beef, Clarence River prawns and Sydney rock oysters. Smyth is also bringing the signature dish from Core, her London eatery, to Sydney. It’s a potato, smoked trout and herring roe combo that draws on her rural upbringing in Northern Ireland. The first raft of sittings sold out in minutes and bookings for February will open on December 1.
PENNY HUNTER
SNAP DECISIONS
Holidays provide a sense of freedom that can make us (or mainly me) get up to tricks, testing ourselves against the unknown in a way we would never consider at home. In my case, particularly, without a sceptical audience of friends or family to judge and snap unflattering photos, there’s the liberation of being unaccountable. I don’t mean reckless endeavours but activities I might otherwise find embarrassing or downright terrifying. And so it is with ziplines.
My first aerial caper was at Bill Bensley’s amazing Shinta Mani Wild encampment at the confluence of three national parks in Cambodia. There was no pressure to arrive by zipline; it would have been easy to opt out and board a jeep for the final stage of the journey. But this jungle resort is such a fabulous folly that despite a bout of nerves, I was hitched up and off I sailed across a universe of butterfly-swarmed forest and over a crashing waterfall to an intermediate tower above the camp. Then, before you could say woo-hoo, I’d sailed right into The Landing Zone Bar, which may have unnerved the afternoon drinkers and caused the odd spillage of jungle-tinis.
“You did what?” asked my closest friend when I texted her. “I want photographic proof, you mad woman!” she added. None was forthcoming, of course, although I’m sure eager snappers and gliders have worked out how to mount cameras on their helmets.
Now that I’m a zipline enthusiast of sorts, the latest to catch my eye is in The Maldives at Soneva Fushi, a resort internationally recognised for its environmental excellence. I visited in 2019 and distinguished myself by sliding day and night on my villa’s slippery dip and screeching all the while. While we’ve been grounded during Covid, Soneva Fushi has been flying high with brave new ideas. Elevating the guest experience, you could say. Dining in the treetops? Let’s arrive via a 200m zipline and enjoy the (wait for it …) Flying Sauces experience at a 12m-high dining platform where a six-course meal is prepared by chef Chef Rasal Jayawardene using the resort garden’s organic produce and sustainably caught seafood from surrounding waters. The zipline runs at heights between 5m-10m across the fluffy tops of coconut palms and there are breakfast options served as well. Plus afternoon tea. Or that would be high tea, naturally.
soneva.com/dining/flying-sauces
BOOK CLUB
LIVING THE CHATEAU DREAM
Dick and Angel Strawbridge
Buy a dilapidated French chateau for a chanson and transform it to a fairytale home? It sounds like the stuff of dreams, if not of utter folly. But real estate prices are cheap in rural France, especially for own-at-heel castles and manors, and plenty of foreigners, including Australians, seem ready to take the plunge, despite the prospect of expensive repairs and running costs. It helps to have a command of French to tackle labourers and bureaucrats, and the fortitude to exist on a diet of pain (by which I mean bread, as well as the other) and fromage during the rebuild. Those who succeed usually look at forms of income, such as letting out guestrooms, hosting events, keeping farm animals, or starting cooking schools or residential retreats.
No couple has maximised the task with more publicity smarts than Dick and Angel Strawbridge. The British pair, from Essex, picked up the five-storey Chateau de la Motte Husson, at Martigne-sur-Mayenne in Pays de Loire, in 2015, complete with 45 rooms, an art deco orangerie, walled garden, 5000-bottle cellar, 4.8ha of lawns and woodland, and an official survey that listed 450 faults. Water and electricity had been disconnected for decades, bats circled, the peeling lead paint was toxic and the timbers had woodworm. Thanks to a combination of shameless self-promotion and exceptional energy, Dick and Angel scored a TV contract and their reality show Escape to the Chateau (screening on 9Life), which includes the filming of the couple’s wedding, has gone global, as they say, followed by Escape to the Chateau DIY, focused on restoration and business tips.
This new book is a follow-up to A Year at the Chateau (2020) and comes with shots of Arthur and Dorothy, the cute junior Strawbridges, plus recipes, and home interior grabs to showcase the alarmingly red-headed Angel’s vintage decorating style. It’s easy to poke fun but these two are living the dream and marketing and selling it, too, via Angel’s home furnishings range and seasonal camping on site in geodesic domes billed as “chateaux under the stars”. Tempted to give it a go?
On sale now is a nine-bedroom pile with detached “lodge dwelling” and ”fabulous income potential” at Lessac in Charente, which could be yours (or mine) for €848,000 ($1,312,685), the equivalent of a two-bedroom apartment with a decent view in Sydney.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
SPEND IT
The latest Cathy Hamilton Artworks range has just been released with an Australian country Christmas theme. Cathy and husband Jim live on a beef cattle property tucked in a valley near Cootamundra in southern NSW. She draws inspiration for many of her pencil drawing and prints from animals and native produce. T+L suggests getting ahead of the festive shopping rush and ordering 100 per cent linen tea towels, hand-sewn in Australia and printed with five original designs or stocking-filler Christmas soaps prettily packaged and made with essential oils of lemon myrtle or pine. We also love that the seasonal cards in two sizes and gift tags give a wry nod to the era of Covid with face masks on sketches of Angus and Highland cows and nestled on the snout of a little wombat. Tea towels, $39.95; placemats, $25; soaps, $13; pack of 10 gift tags, $20; cards $3.50-$7.
SUSAN KUROSAWA
To join the conversation, please log in. Don't have an account? Register
Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout