It’s harvest time at Boschendal and if you’re a lover of plums, they’ve got you covered.
Blessed with an abundant yield this year the farm has dedicated the month of March to the versatile fruit and is celebrating with a number of exciting occasions and activities to suit the entire family.
This month, the Boschendal teams have once again prepared a variety of on-the-farm entertainment options that are certain to intrigue and entice visitors of all ages.
Weekends have always been a particularly festive affair at the farm and the return of the popular weekly Friday Night Market has ramped up the offering even further. There is much excitement too around the launch of the Saturday Night Drive-In Movie that will screen a delightful selection of family-friendly movies including Guardians of the Galaxy, The Jungle Book and The Lion King. A pop-up Drive-In Movie shop of yummy movie eats and estate wines will be on offer. The Boschendal Summer Drive-In Movie calendar runs until Saturday, 29 May, R250 per vehicle of four persons. Pre-booking is essential.
One of the highlights of this month’s festivities will be the appearances by the Ukwanda Puppet Company from the Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape. They will be presenting a walking public performance with partners Net vir Pret from Barrydale, over the weekend of 13 and 14 March. This intimate performance event in front of the Boschendal Manor House will feature life-size elephant puppets, designed and created by Adrian Kohler and the Handspring Puppet Company team who brought the world the magnificent War Horse puppets at the National Theatre, the West End in London, and at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town. The main performance is on Sunday, 14 March at Noon. The performances over the weekend are free of charge.
Those who want to get up close and personal with their plums will have the chance to wander through the orchards, bucket in hand, and harvest their own. Boschendal cultivates close to twenty plum varietals and a recent Boschendal Diaries conversation with Charles Edmonds, General Manager of Farming, revealed that a staggering 396 000 plum trees have been planted on the farm. The quality of the fruit is outstanding which means they are in high demand locally and internationally with 70% of the crop being exported. In case you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, plums are low in calories and sugar and are impressively high in nutrients and vitamins.
Visitors and guests of Boschendal can join in on plum harvest experiences on 7, 14, 20 and 28 of this month, which will be hosted by Farmer Charles. Plum picking is available between 08h30 and 10h30 and harvested plums can be purchased at R50 per kilo. Pre-booking is essential.
Plums will be available for sale alongside other fresh produce at the Boschendal Farm Shop and of course the estate’s resident pâtissier Christine de Villiers will be creating irresistible plum’cious delicacies including plum tarts and plum and vanilla danishes.
Stay for the day and reserve a table at the Werf Restaurant by Chef Allistaire Lawrence who has created dishes inspired by the humble plum. Should al fresco dining in the shade of an ancient oak tree be what you’re after, the ever-popular Boschendal picnics have made their post-Lockdown level comeback at the Rhône lawns and rose garden, which is the winemaking and wine-tasting hub of Boschendal. The leafy location is unbeatable and the food is superb with the Rhône Rose Garden picnic menus catering to vegetarians and children too. All the wholesome goodies popped into each basket are sourced from the Werf Food Garden and the Farm Shop together with estate’s range of award-winning wines.
To find out more about all the events happening this March at Boschendal, visit http://www.boschendal.com
