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the public areas, the hotel has a fully-fledged gallery space. Curator Rydah Molobela is on hand for tours when the tourist and school buses pull up. Exhibitions vary and last up to six months. They are usually themed around a social consciousness. The art is relevant to South Africa’s societal challenges and hopes to give visitors further insight. Current artists include Jan van der Merwe and Diane Victor.
When the hotel first opened it doors its was called The Old Kruger Park Hotel. It was later renamed Hotel Kowyn and finally The Graskop Hotel in 1993. Today the owners are made up of Harrie Siertsema, Willem van Bergen, Ellen Stroud and Auke van der Meulen, who is the custodian of the van der Meulen family. Front Office Manager Lella Smyth, says, “When I started here (18 years ago), the new owners hadn’t had the hotel for very long, and it was a relatively quiet, ordinary dorp-style establishment. Now it has been renovated into a living work of art and a busy tourist destination.” In 2014 they welcomed a record
1 572 visitors during August alone.
Beyond the serious art, rows of whitewashed familysuitesaresetamonglovelygardens.London Plane trees stand in straight lines, saluting the statue of St. Francis of Assisi. This statue is
a replica of one made for a monastery in Italy by SA sculptor Susanne du Toit. Poignantly, doves often sit on his shoulders as his hood collects
water after it rains. This classical statue, one of the first to be introduced into the hotel, stands across from buck and
Curator of the art gallery inside the hotel – Rydah Molobela.
antlers piece by Johan Moolman, which represents found (recycled) objects to raise an environmental awareness. The tree-framed lawns, immaculate hedges, floral borders and white garden furniture alongside a huge, Hockney-esque swimming pool, evoke a sense of nostalgia for the simpler, family-run country hotels of old. This wonderful combination of old-fashioned hospitality and cutting edge art draws buses full of foreign tourists to Graskop en route to the Kruger Park. It is well worth the slight detour. The hotel is by turns quirky, compelling and familiar; making it one of Mpumalanga’s must-see destinations for anyone passing through. If you have the chance to spend a night or two, even better, because the food emerging from the cavernous kitchens, which still sport their pale blue 1950s ceramic tiles and gigantic black range, will not disappoint either. The Graskop Hotel gets our vote as one of South Africa’s rural treasures.
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42 | LOWVELD LIVING
A visit to Graskop would be incomplete without a stop at Harrie’s Pancakes. Come rain, you’ll sit cosily next to the fireplace. Come shine, you’ll bask outdoors on the deck. Try the Bobotie pancake with chutney, or chicken and mushroom with cashews for an unusual twist. For Portuguese and Mozambican cuisine, Canimambo has everything from peri- peri chicken to lemon butter prawns. After dinner, enjoy a cocktail next door and try the Rocket Fuel if you dare. The outside fire is lit daily at 6pm and on Saturday