Less a chance to “escape” and more an opportunity to truly get lost (quite literally if you try to negotiate the serpentine dirt roads after dark), a weekend away at the Hermanuspietersfontein Boedery is a genuine return to pastoral charm and simple pleasure.

Sans electricity, cell phone reception and noisy neighbours, the cluster of cottages on the award-winning winery’s vineyard property provides the perfect answer to the call for retreat, rest and relaxation.

Kleinboet, Bloos and Swartskaap – the names of the three self-catering cottages – are hidden away from the push and pull of city life in the bossom of farmland that unravels between the quaint Overberg town of Stanford and the agricultural community of Napier (about 2 hours and 30 minutes from Cape Town).

In essence, on the 20 kilometres of unpaved country road that winds its way to the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) champion estate, you’re more likely to brake for a troop of duiker or the odd stray sheep than another vehicle.