Page 14 -

NATURE

Family walks

STONE HILL - A DOG

LOVER'S DELIGHT

BY JAMES CLARKE, PICTURES BY MARY BROADLEY

he red brick road alone spoke sent up. Beautifully presented picnics, The place was fully booked yet we
of dedication: kilometres of half platters, breads and cakes are supplied rarely heard barking apart, that is, from
bricks, half-a-million of them I’m by a neighbour or, if you pre-order a day the occasional happy anticipatory bark
Tsure, all neatly laid and still tidy before, the village Super Spar not only dogs give when about to be taken for
after countless vehicles had ridden over delivers everything but packs your fridge a walk. The absence of what I call
them for many years. Incredibly, the wide, ready for your arrival. ‘suburban barking’ was partly because
handmade road was laid mostly by two each family’s dogs are out of sight of
men – a former bricklayer, Petros Mhlanga Each cottage has a well-equipped and the others and dog lovers (as opposed
and an assistant. carefully designed kitchen - the work of to dog owners) are, I have found,
Caroline de Villiers who, with Mark Morgan, considerate types.
The road carried us into the hills, high above owns Stone Hill. Caroline, a third generation
Magaliesburg village, through a wonderful Kenyan who settled here in 1970, designed There’s a choice of walking trails either
landscape of blue and gold - the gold of the cottages, some being double storeyed down to the river or following the wide
the winter veld and the blue of the sky. and all being well out of sight of the others. paths through the grass-covered hills with
Each is individually fenced off. Why are great all-round views, including the blue
The 360 degree view from the top is of they fenced? It’s because Stone Hill ridge of the Magaliesberg that stretches
mostly virgin veld, soft contours sparsely allows guests to bring their pet dogs. towards Hartbeespoort.
dotted with ancient wild olive trees, dark
and dense, and the occasional sentinel
kiepersol (cabbage tree), scarred survivors
of countless veld fires, and several,
lone-standing soetdorings (sweet thorn)
with their white needle-like thorns. In
the distance, rank upon rank of hills and
ridges. And we were just an hour’s drive
from Fourways.

It was the last day of winter and, at the
crest, where our accommodation was
in one of the 10 widely spaced timber
cottages, a southerly wind threatened to
snap-freeze us.
The next day, the first day of spring, the
temperatures dutifully soared into the
mid-20s.

This was Stone Hill – a quiet, rural,
self-catering resort to which the Tourism
Grading Council of South Africa has
awarded a four-star rating. You bring
your own food – or you can have it Racing through the veld
36
41
12
DPL
DPL
DPL