Halliwell Country Inn

You stay at Halliwell Country Inn in a 19th-century farmhouse that was once a wagon stop and smithy on the route between Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith. The original blacksmith’s workshop is now a chapel, and the Oregon pine doors and sash windows came from demolished homes in the area. The inn sits on two hundred and fifty acres of lawns and gardens, with views across the Karkloof Valley where horses from the neighboring rest home graze.

Fourteen rooms have open fireplaces and private verandas. Some are family rooms with interleading doors; others are suites with spa baths. The restaurant serves Midlands produce, and the bar looks out over the same valley the horses do. The dining room was added in 1991 when the current owners converted the farmhouse into an inn.

The place works because of the road. The N3 passes close by, and the turnoff is marked on GPS. You can hear the highway from the garden, but the valley swallows the sound.