Stone Cottage on Exclusive Bush Farm

Stone Cottage sits on a 66-hectare private bush farm in the Wilge River valley, an hour and a half east of Pretoria in the Bronkhorstspruit district. The old stone farmhouse has been restored as a self-catering cottage and the whole farm comes with it: guests have the run of the property, its kloof and its waterfalls, with nobody else booked in.

The cottage sleeps six across three bedrooms, one with a queen bed, one with two single or three-quarter beds, and a third with a double sleeper couch, served by two bathrooms. The kitchen is fully equipped with a gas stove and oven, fridge-freezer, microwave, kettle, crockery and cutlery, and the dining table seats ten. There is a fireplace inside for winter and, outside, a large undercover patio, outdoor dining, a braai and a fire pit for sundowners.

The draw for most guests is the wood-fired hot tub, which reviewers single out for winter evenings; firewood is available on the farm at a reasonable price. Walking trails run from the cottage door into the kloof, and a housekeeper comes through daily.

Two extra en-suite bedrooms, Honeyguide and Flycatcher, can be added to a cottage booking to take the party to ten. Both have queen beds and private bathrooms, and neither can be booked on its own: they are third and fourth bedrooms for the cottage, not separate stays.

The farm runs entirely off-grid on solar, so power is plentiful in sunshine and worth using sparingly after a run of cloudy days. The birding is the reason it is on BirdLife South Africa's radar, and the two annex rooms are named for the birds.