Need to know
Rooms
Five individually designed suites and a standalone villa.
Check–Out
10:30am, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 2.30pm.
More details
Rates usually include a generous Continental breakfast spread made of garden gathered and locally sought ingredients. A minimum two-night stay is required.
Also
The farmhouse rooms are already very charming, but if you'd like a touch more privacy and some elbow-throwing space, book the Mountain and Orchard rooms together, which will give you a two-bedroom country hideaway with a seating area and balcony.
Hotel closed
To give the staff a break and for some spring (well, winter) cleaning, the hotel is closed for four to six weeks over June and July.
At the hotel
Working farm, fynbos, chef’s garden, house butler, kitchen and pantry, dining and sitting room, two free-to-borrow mountain bikes, boutique, free WiFi (patchy in the outdoors). In rooms: Air-conditioning and a ceiling fan.
Our favourite rooms
Choosing a favourite room is a toughie – each has a unique personality; and one of the owners runs interior-design firm Lumisol, and here he’s plied his trade hard. You might find botanical drawings from a Parisian flea, Swedish spindleback chairs from the Sixties, lamps shaped like owls and pineapples, bedcovers in Jaipur-inspired blockprint, paintings by Sri Lankan artist Vajira Gunawardena, James Mudge carpentry, Tissus d’Hélène linens and William Morris patterns. The Garden and Orchard rooms stand out for their verdant views, the Valley Suite for its cosy reading nook, stone walls and Franschhoek Valley overlook, and – for honeymooners – the Courtyard Suite, with its four-poster and green-granite-topped bath tub is especially dreamy.
Poolside
The owners of 7 Koppies – interior designer Marc-Ludolf von Schmarsow and Ampersand Travel founder James Jayasundera – couldn’t have picked a better spot for the 25-metre pool. As you paddle along, you can take in the natural wonder that is the Franschhoek Valley and the distant mountains. And, here the owners have paid homage to their roots – the barn-style open-air pavilions on either side of the pool where guests can sit around a fireplace or take drinks in the shade, nod to both the Italian farm buildings von Schmarsow grew up around, and the indoor-outdoor designs of Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa, the famous son of Jayasundera’s home country.
Spa
There’s no spa, but the hotel can call in therapists to give you a massage (twosomes can take one together on request), facial or mani-pedi; tables can be set up in your room or by the pool to make the most of the view.
Packing tips
No, put that robe down, and that pool towel – yes, we know they’re lovely, but you can’t just take them. Luckily just around the corner is the hotel’s small yet stylish boutique, which came about at the demand of covetous guests. Here you can buy the linen robes and Simply Bee bath products from your room; colourful locally made Mungo pool towels and pickings and preserves from the estate gardens and orchards.
Also
The Rockwood Cottage, set around the curve of a koppie, isn’t too far a walk from the farmhouse, but should you need transport staff will be happy to help.
Children
This swooningly romantic stay is for over-13s only.
Sustainability efforts
The owners have tended the farm back into fine shape. The farmhouse was restored using local materials, and in laying out the grounds, garden designer Franchesca Watson and botanist Fiona Powrie (from Cape Town’s Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden) have seamlessly blended endemic plants into the landscape and coaxed out a kitchen garden which provides ingredients for breakfasts and light lunches and dinners, alongside the fruit and olive groves. The fynbos are fiercely protected here, with invasive species quickly shown the boot, and three attendants to keep them pristine and carefully watch the firebreaks. Water is solar heated, the owners encourage guests to turn off lights, Simply Bee bath products are all natural, and shopping trips are carefully planned to cut down fuel usage.