No word of a lie – Betty is Beautiful.  This little guest house is like a peaceful oasis in the dusty Karoo.  The perfect stopover spot on the way to or from Cape Town, or as a base from which to explore the area.  I looked at A LOT of accommodation options in the vicinity and nothing even began to compare with BB.  This little guest house has spacious, stylish and comfortable rooms, with en suite bathrooms, and a communal coffee shop/breakfast area and a large, lush garden.  Also, a fabulous reading wall in case you forgot your book at home.

The rooms are exactly what you need – the MOST comfortable bed (we even took a pic of the make so we can investigate getting one) with T-shirt Bed Co linen, a little bar fridge and coffee making facility, the most thoughtful tray of useful items (sanitizer, hair dryer, torch, Tabard), an A/C for hot Karoo nights and an enormous shower.  There’s even a little gift shop on site – Hartsgoed – that opened recently.

Martha gave us a huge welcome and showed us around and Lisa, the owner, was fantastic with her communications, which included restaurant recommendations and a discount voucher for our supper, and even a coffee shop recommendation in Cradock (Karoo Brew).  Lisa is a local GP and her husband is a farmer, and this is a little passion project for them with the intention of supporting local suppliers. Lisa has some fab ideas – I won’t let them all spill out here – but I think there’s lots of exciting things on the way.

We really enjoyed breakfast the next morning – honestly the most delicious omelette I’ve had in forever.  Such great value and exceptionally tasty.  And it’s always so lovely having a little chat with other travellers also enjoying the space, sharing stories of the road and where we’ve all been.  That sense of ‘geselligheid’ that South Africans are so famous for – we found it at Beautiful Betty.

And can we please take one final moment to enjoy some of the views from the road – a landscape painter’s dream.  A new idyllic landscape over each rise and round every bend.  Maybe not so welcome, the plague of locusts!  Welcome to the Karoo.