La Residence

The road into the farm runs between rows of vines, and the house at the end of it is pale ochre with a colonnade, as if a Tuscan villa had been set down among the Cape mountains. La Residence, outside Franschhoek, opened in 2008 and is the second property of The Royal Portfolio, the family company that Liz and Phil Biden began with Royal Malewane in the Thornybush.

History

The Bidens bought the farm, some 30 acres of vineyard and plum orchard on the slopes above the village, in the mid-2000s and built the house from scratch, a rarity in a valley whose hotels mostly occupy Cape Dutch farmsteads. Liz Biden designed it as a villa for entertaining, with a great hall, a ballroom-sized dining room and a loggia facing the mountains, and decorated every suite in a different scheme. The hotel opened in 2008. The Vineyard Suites, a row of self-contained cottages among the vines with their own pools, were added a few years later for longer stays and families. The farm still makes a small quantity of wine under its own label and sells its plums.

Architecture and design

The main house is built around a central hall with a double-height ceiling, chandeliers and a sweeping staircase, in a style that mixes Italian villa, Cape colonial and Indian palace without apology. Liz Biden's rooms are her boldest: one suite in Chinese red and gold, another in Mughal greens, another in black and white with a four-poster bed under a canopy, each named rather than numbered. Persian rugs, antique mirrors and furniture from her travels fill the public rooms. Outside, a long pool lies on the terrace below the loggia, with the Franschhoek mountains behind it and the vines in front.

Rooms and suites

The house has eleven suites, all with sitting areas, large bathrooms and either a terrace or a balcony over the valley. The Vineyard Suites, five in number, stand apart among the vines, each with one or two bedrooms, a kitchen, a private pool and a garden, and are run as self-contained villas with the main house's staff on call. Children are welcome in the Vineyard Suites and in the house.

Dining

Meals are served in the dining room or on the terrace, from a daily menu rather than a fixed card, with much of the produce coming from the farm's own garden and orchards. Franschhoek's restaurants, among the most concentrated in South Africa, are a five-minute drive away and the hotel's drivers take guests to and from them. The wine list draws on the valley's estates and the farm's own label. Afternoon tea on the loggia is a daily ritual.

Wellness

A spa with treatment rooms, a gym and the heated pool on the terrace serve the house. Guided walks and cycling through the vineyards, and the wine tram that links the valley's estates, are the usual ways of filling an afternoon.

Weddings and events

La Residence takes weddings and private celebrations with an exclusive-use booking of the house, with ceremonies on the lawn in front of the vines, dinner in the great hall or on the terrace and dancing in the dining room. The eleven suites and five Vineyard Suites house the wedding party on site. Boards and small companies take the house for retreats and meet in the library or the dining room; there is no purpose-built conference room.

Location

The farm lies on the edge of Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands, about an hour's drive east of Cape Town International Airport and a little more from the city centre. The village, with its main street of restaurants and galleries, is a few minutes by car. Stellenbosch is half an hour to the west and the Franschhoek Pass climbs out of the valley behind the house. As a luxury hotel in the Cape Winelands it is the one that looks least like a wine farm and most like a stage set.