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Thorn Tree: luxury ‘country’ lodge 20 minutes from CBD

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ABSOLUTELY lovely Thorn Tree Lodge boutique hotel re-opened just over a year ago.

ABSOLUTELY lovely Thorn Tree Lodge boutique hotel re-opened just over a year ago.

Travel with Dusty Miller

Don’t ask me how long it was shut; the last time I was there was for The Standard’s Restaurant of the Year awards in (I think) 2006, when it was called The Gables and run superbly by Mrs Gil Harrison (now at Willow Bean Coffee Shop, Willowmead Junction.)

A few years before that, when the late, lamented Murelle Hayes ran the place as a top-flight hotel and catering training school, students and staff were terrified and robbed at ruthless gun-point by AK47-toting thugs.

The last time I saw Murelle on an AZ flight to Gatwick, in 2008, a year before she died tragically suddenly and ages after that scary incident, she said ZRP were still investigating!

If Thorn Tree were in the Cape and you heard it was 100 or 200 years old, you wouldn’t argue. But it certainly wasn’t there 38 years ago, when I lived in Glen Lorne, then recently incorporated into the capital city, with no PTC street mail deliveries, using hand-cranked ancient telephone hand-sets on multi-user party lines. (I was very often the Ministry of Information, Immigration and Tourism after- hours’ duty officer; we shared a party line with, among others, a 24-hour emergency nursing service and the Highlands Park Hotel. The bloody phones never stopped ringing!)

The boutique and beautifully appointed residential lodge lies on 25 hectares of lush rolling African veldt filled with exotic birds. The property is dissected by a pretty streamlet which becomes a roaring, raging river (presumably the Umwindsi?) after a major storm, like we had at dusk when I stayed there recently.

The usually gently meandering waterway feeds a splendid reed- and fish-filled dam, which is home to a pair of breeding African Fish Eagles. Apart from eponymous thorn trees, there are many mature umbrella acacias and stately blue gums.

Architecture is Cape Dutch; the place is filled with breathtaking antiques and collectibles: furniture, paintings, timepieces, scientific instruments, books, an original HMV phonogram; greying heavily framed lithographs of Victorian worthies in clerical garb or Masonic aprons; stuffed animals and hunting trophies. The place could be gloomy, perhaps should be gloomy but a kind natural light and airiness plus lots of loving elbow grease on anything needing dusting or polishing makes the whole museum-like collection stunning.

Guests’ rooms and suites, on the other hand are the last word in contemporaneous efficiency and modern comfort.  My king-sized suite had a bed the size of a snooker table, walk-in needle point shower, freestanding Victorian-styled bath tub with silver-plated ball-and-claw feet, twin wash hand basins, huge flat screen TVs (but reception wasn’t too great with the storm around) both in the sleeping area and in the living/meeting room area, which also boasted a dining/boardroom style table seating eight and two sofas.

At dinner for six, served by head waiter Charles Matope, starters were a choice of miniature trio fish pie with a side salad, a huge portion of sticky chili beef gudgeons on a bed of micro-greens, orange and pomegranate salsa, or my choice: Which was a richly rewarding and satisfying fairly coarse chicken liver paté with lemon garlic and herb toast and sweet tomato chutney.

Russian-born Steve Sugden, a young entrepreneur who owns the place with fiancée Tarryn Crundall, and I agreed the only possible fault with the scrumptious paté was that it needed more mouthwatering garlicky toast on which it could be spread. That was soon rectified and every delicious morsel finished.

Tarryn also runs West Agencies and among her imported food and drink lines she has the Zimbabwe agency for is the magnificent Solms-Delta Wines from Franschhoek in the Cape, which I toured fairly recently.  Their sparkling Shiraz is totally stunning with suggested aphrodisiacal qualities!

Main courses offered were a very meaty chunk of export quality Zimbabwean fillet of beef, stuffed with Stilton cheese and wrapped in smoky, streaky bacon, served with red wine gravy, Dauphinoise potatoes and seasonal vegetables; or a North African dish of chicken tagine with apricots, sultanas and a spicy tomato sauce with rice.

Possibly predictably, I ordered the fish tower trio; ginormous grand tasty slab of poached fillet of salmon, tilapia fillet and four or five grilled prawns, with creamy mashed parsley potatoes, carrots (which I didn’t get…no train smash!) and lovely young green asparagus shoots with Hollandaise sauce. I struggled to clear my plate, which was a shame as colours, textures and flavours came together as a stupendous whole. That probably means I shouldn’t have been entitled to pudding!  But after a digestion break during which conversation sparkled the sweets arrived.

Tall, pencil-slim, elegant Tarryn (she and Steve will marry in Cape Town soon) ordered an off-menu fresh fruit salad which looked dazzling. I don’t think anyone had the sharing chocolate fondue with marshmallows, strawberries and banana.  Warm brownie with vanilla bean ice-cream attracted a couple of orders. But most of us went for heart-shaped meringues, which were as light as a kiss, filled with fresh cream and decorated with halved strawberries.

We finished with coffee and more talk, which included what a first rate job head chef Gift Chigome and his team had done for six very satisfied punters.

Pelting rain (a storm of Biblical proportions) turned to light rain and drizzle by midnight, but next day was bright and shining without the awful humidity we’d been experiencing.

I yomped around the property doing a little early morning bird-watching before a trencherman’s breakfast of cereal and banana- flavoured yoghurt; eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, grilled tomato and toast with tea Ruvimbo Gwaze, the very helpful day manager, has gone on maternity leave since my visit; Richard Vickery is the general manager, Brian Tembani night duty manager and Aretha Maparura (a former Chisi girl who speaks like a member of the Royal Family!) was meeting, greeting and seating this week.

Thorn Tree Lodge, 29, Enterprise Road, Glen Lorne. Bijoux/boutique country hotel in the city. Child friendly. Not especially handicapped friendly, but no insurmountable architectural challenges. Fully licensed. No smoking indoors. Secure parking on-site. Tel  0772 269 103 or 494743-5.

Bed and breakfast rates from US$120-US$250 per person per night. Corporate discounts available. [email protected]