This is Part 3, of our journey to the town of Hopefield. We simply had to make a detour from Malmesbury to Darling to see the acres of land covered by wildflowers.
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Can you believe that we were one week too late to see the flowers. They normally flower in September, but due to the masses of early rains that we had, they flowered earlier, and the flowers were all gone when we arrived in Darling.
So, we decided to drive into Darling, as we hadn't had breakfast and popped into an interesting old house that was converted by the owner into a restaurant, for some coffee and toasted sandwiches.
Thankfully the road was in a good condition on the way to Darling and the rain stayed away.
We saw this neat wine shop as we entered Darling. Now I didn't want wine as we wanted a quick cup of coffee and some sandwiches.
And there it was. An old house that was converted into a restaurant.
So sad that we missed the flower show and look what was growing on the sidewalk next to our car at the parking.
She was happy to see all of the old relics of life that were on show inside the old house.
I am not an inside man, as I am an outside man and we walked through the house to the open back garden.
While she was ordering coffee and two toasted sandwiches, I walked around to take some photos of the garden,
A long time ago, this was a small swimming pool for the residents.
Even a water feature in the corner of the pool.
A small land of cactus flowers was on show.
Royal Mail? I think they operated in the early years under British rule.
Then on the way out, I spoke to the new owner of the place and he asked where we were going. So I told him that we were on our way to Hopefield town. He told me that he knew of a shortcut to Hopefield, but it was on a 24km dirt road to the tar road that leads to Hopefield. He said the road was in a very good condition, and if I was brave enough then I should take the shortcut.
Of course I was brave enough to take the shortcut, and so hang on to your hats, bras, and teeth, as I show you the shortcut and Hopefield in the next post.
We didn't know any of the history of Darling, as all that we know was that it has the annual world famous flower show. Busloads of tourists flock to the flower show every year, and we thought that we would be clever to miss the tourists by going a wee bit later, but sadly we were too late to see the flowers.
Darling is much more than what we thought, and have a look here:
https://www.hellodarling.org.za/
But not to worry, as we plan to go that way again when the weather gets friendly in early Summer and then we will spend some time in Darling.
So that's it for now, and in the next post you will see Hopefield town and all that it has to offer.
I hope you have enjoyed the trip and the photos.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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