Review: Robertson Small Hotel, South Africa

Mention that you’re off to Cape Town, and everyone will insist you visit the winelands - Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Constantia – on a day trip from the city. The thing is, everyone visits the winelands these days. Coachloads of tourists are ferried from vineyard to tasting room to wine cellar.

Pick up a convertible and zoom past the tour guides and minivans and bored kids, driving an hour further east to Robertson. No crowds here. Just underpriced vintages, a laid-back cellar scene and, on a side street in the main town, the 10-room Robertson Small Hotel - as glamorous as anything on the Cote d’Azur, yet with that uniquely South African homespun charm.

The aptly named and affable Vino will take the luggage from your car (gleaming from a fresh wash when you leave) and escort you across jacaranda-filled lawns to the romantic Victorian manor house to check in. You can sleep here, too, in one of three Kelly Hoppen-esque rooms, all airy and white, with delectably touchable fabrics, dark-wood floors and high-thread-count sheets.

Or opt for the stables out back, converted into two spacious ground-floor suites and a vast honeymoon loft, all with exposed wooden beams and Philippe Starck-style freestanding baths for two. The main pool is just behind the stables, with a bijou spa off to the side, where treatments use the same luscious, locally made olive-oil toiletries you’ll find in your room.

But if the sun’s shining – as it invariably does in South Africa – and the weather’s warm, it’s a poolside room you’ll want, so you can slip from your private veranda straight into the separate lap pool shared by the four suites.

Cocktails (gin, grapefruit and grenadine) and canapes (bite-sized caramelized onion and gorgonzola tartlets, rounds of artisanal bread with mushroom pate, drizzled with tangy local olive oil) are 6ish, served on the jazz-age zinc cocktail bar. Mingle here with other guests – stylish South African couples who’ve been discreetly told about the place by a very good friend – or sneak out onto a wicker sofa on the veranda that envelopes the house.

Dinner in the small restaurant is local, seasonal and memorable - as you’d expect of a venue presided over by South African celebrity chef Reuben Riffel. If it's on the menu, order the delicately spiced tandoori-roasted Kingklip, a firm white fish fresh from the Atlantic, served with lemon cream and caramelised aubergine. It's complemented by astoundingly good-value Pinot Noir, possibly the same vintage you shared today with the winemaker, who kept pouring glugs into your glass as you chatted over a picnic table in the vineyards.

58 Van Reenen Street, Robertson, Western Cape, South Africa; +27 (0)23 626 7200. www.therobertsonsmallhotel.com

Doubles from £120, B&B