Cape Town - For a unique place to stay in Elgin, look no further than the Old Mac Daddy trailer park.
Vintage Airstream caravans are stacked up against a hill overlooking the valley and at the edge of the dam, each one decorated in a different quirky theme. They have names like Give Bees A Chance and For Better Or Boerewors, and half the fun of spending the night there is exploring the décor details and hidden surprises.
You need to be comfortable with someone (and yourself) to be in such confined quarters, but if you like a little bathroom privacy, your concerns have been addressed. The Airstreams all have added-on communal areas with fold-back sliding glass doors, separate shower rooms, and verandahs from which you can watch the sunset. Extra beds can be made up in these “living units” for children and other hangers on. Besides the trailers, there is also a villa for families or groups.
When I arrived I had every intention of catching the last rays of afternoon sun at the pool, but after the trek up the stairs to my Yellow Submarine trailer I decided I’d had enough exercise for one day, and opened a bottle of wine instead.
Created by Site Interior Design, with its LED ocean floor chart table and periscope, this trailer claims to realise all your James Bond fantasies. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those, certainly not the kind involving a submarine. It is very, well, yellow in the bedroom, which has studded vinyl walls, and you’re likely to get a Beatles earworm. Great bed though; I slept like a baby.
In the front half of the trailer there is a big Smeg fridge, an honesty bar, seating around the table, and a Battleships game stashed underneath in one of the drawers. Outside in the living unit, there is a table with tall stools, more couches, shelves with kettle, tea, coffee, rusks, and all the other little odds and ends you need for comfort, which you will find in any hotel room.
Tip: the shower room provides only liquid soap so take a cake, or a facecloth.
Later that evening I did brave the steps again, to join my old friends Jay Haupt – who has grown a rather magnificent beard since moving permanently out to the country – and his wife Sascha, whom I haven’t seen for years.
Jay runs Brinny Breezes, which is the barn structure housing the restaurant and bar, and looks out on to the pool deck. According to Sascha, “Jay has made a smoker out of a filing cabinet and is creating pulled pork, smoked olives and peppers and more – delicious I assure you.”
She is right: we had divine pulled pork pizzas on thin bases, a clever dinner order because I was leaving early the next morning, before breakfast service.
They tried to offer me things like fruit and yoghurt to take, but leftover pizza is a winner. We drank Charles Fox rose MCC, made just down the road.
* Old Mac Daddy, Elgin Valley Road. Telephone 021 844 0241 or go to www.oldmacdaddy.co.za
Weekend Argus