There’s really too much to do for a one-night stay. To start, exploring the estate – the gardens, pool, spa and various restaurants – takes an entire day, and who wants to rush that?

The pool, surrounded by lounges and gazebos with its own bar, needs a day on its own. Going straight after breakfast is ideal to get it all to yourself, sipping on a white-wine spritzer or sneaky cocktail.

Speaking of breakfast, it’s honestly a pity you have to wait until the day after checking in until you get to experience the spread that is the breakfast buffet. Everything you could want is on the table, pun intended, from oysters to cold-pressed juice to fresh pastries, and always completed with a cappuccino. The eggs Benedict that should follow any continental spread is stacked with so much salmon and perfectly prepared hollandaise sauce, you might struggle to find space to finish it all.

After fires swept the estate in 2017, many priceless antique pieces were lost and building structures crumbled. Decorator Con van der Colff collected antiques from all over the country dating back various years and placed them throughout the hotel, creating inspiring and unconventional spaces.

The Craven Lounge’s decor, for example, started from one thing and led to another. Paintings of 19th-century hunters on the wall with their red jackets inspired the red tapestry rugs, for example.

Each room’s interior is differ – in one, a lucky find of lime floral headboards inspired the greens and pinks throughout the suite. The combination of old and new furniture and finishes makes it special and anything but standard hotel decorating.

After a morning swim, and if you haven’t gone back to your room and finished the contents of your complimentary mini-bar, you need to head to the spa for a lie in the hot tub overlooking the vineyards. Lounging on the deck on a hot day, laps in the (very) heated indoor pool, a workout or mist completely relaxes you when you’re taking a break from busy city life.

This is even before you’ve ventured upstairs, where a world-class spa with an endless list of treatments and massages awaits. Side-note – decor-obsessed as I am – feast you eyes on the embroidered upholstery that covers the walls.

A deli visit for lunch and complimentary wine tasting as a hotel guest is a lovely way to spend an afternoon. The home of Pinotage, Lanzerac was the first wine farm in SA to bottle (1958) and commercialise (1961) this truly South African grape.

One really needs two weeks at Lanzerac to reset and refresh body and mind.

By Robyn Lane