Cape Argus E-dition

Stand a chance to win a lunch at La Provence Estate

STAFF REPORTER

WHILE the hospitality industry has suffered greatly due to the Covid-19 restrictions, for Franschhoek’s Grande Provence Estate it’s been “a blessing in disguise”.

Events and estate reservations manager Anine Bezuidenhout says the estate started a Heritage Garden, growing a variety of fresh vegetables for sale at the farm shop.

“We brought in live chickens to lay eggs and sell in the farm shop and, since then they are producing sufficient stock for us to use in our kitchens also,” says Bezuidenhout.

While indoor dining was restricted, she says the estate opened up take-away options for locals.

“When we were able to serve guests again, we started weekend markets with local suppliers to come and sell their products on-site and also hosted weekend braais.”

She says this created a buzz in Franschhoek and beyond, which attracted more visitors to the estate, with some coming from as far as Hermanus, Gordons Bay and the West Coast.

“All in all, Covid-19 has been a blessing in disguise for us. We had to really become creative and reinvent our estate offerings to attract local business. Normally, locals felt that they could not afford to stay over or fully experience Franschhoek, as the town mainly catered for international clientele and budget.

“But in this time, we have seen our locals come back and enjoy the beauty of our town and all that we have to offer.

Naturally, the alcohol ban and other operational restrictions were hard on all departments and businesses in the tourism sector, and there were periods when the estate was completely empty but we have managed to overcome this and continue to come up with creative ways to accommodate our guests,” says Bezuidenhout.

We’re offering a lunch with Cape Argus editor Aziz Hartley at the La Provence Estate to five of our subscribers and their partners.

To stand a chance to win, subscribers will have to write to us and in roughly 100 words tell us why they enjoy reading the Cape Argus.

Email arglet@inl.co.za. This competition is open to subscribers who have not won any of our completions in the past three months. The deadline for entries is October 1.

METRO

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2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281689732955685

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