After a long day of hunting down those multicoloured wildflowers in Nieuwoudtville, there is nothing more relaxing than settling down at an accommodation that makes you feel welcome, relaxed, and offers you a little luxury and escape after exploring the dusty mainland.
It’s time to pour yourself a glass of wine, kick off your shoes and settle into your room at Linda Se Dop.
We were on a mission. The objective? To find the most spectacular wildflower hotspots that South Africa has to offer.
We had started our journey up north, slowly making our way through the dry, arid landscape of the Namaqualand.
We had driven our little silver sedan on 4×4 roads, bobbing up and down to reach Hondeklipbaai, the little fishing village named after a rock.
Now, as we left Hondeklipbaai, we were once more back on the Garies road battling to get GPS signal and internet connection until we went up the famous Vanrhyn’s Pass, to finally arrive in the lovely town of Nieuwoudtville.
Fields of yellow flowers welcomed us, rows as far as the eye could see.
We had travelled far, but the mission was not over.
Driving from one place to the next, walking about the fields of endless colour, snapping candid pictures of the flowers and spending time in the hot South African sun. Dirt road to dirt road, the adventure was on… but eventually, our mission had to be put on hold. Why? Well, to put it simply, we were pooped!
We hopped into the car one last time and headed to Linda Se Dop, our sanctuary for the evening.
I pulled open the blinds and peered out of our bedroom window. To my surprise, I watched as a magnificent orange hue suddenly began to spread across the sky.
I turned to Byron, who, in no time at all, had already passed out on the bed. (I guess a full day of flower hunting will do that to a person.)
Anyway, after an internal fight with myself, as to whether I should wake him up or not, I let him sleep and ran down the stairs to catch up with these beautiful rays lighting up the sky. Running as fast as I could down the stairs and into the garden courtyard with the fear that if I arrived too late, they would leave without me.
That was it, after a full day of adventure, I stood still and looked up in awe as the sky turned from a vivid orange to every shade of pink, clouds skirting around the sky like giant balls of candy floss.
It was the perfect way to end the day. A few more moments and I’d be back up the stairs to join Byron before dinner.
Let me tell you, there are few people as determined as Linda: ex-city slicker and professional businesswoman, turned homemaker and host.
Retired in 2016, Linda was in the process of deciding what she wanted to do with this next chapter of her life when she decided to Google the phrase “nicest towns in South Africa”. One thing led to another and suddenly (three months later) she was standing in Nieuwoudtville on an empty plot, bags in hand.
Okay, it may not have been as simple as that.
Plans had to be made and builders had to be hired. Linda took matters into her own hands in the end, when the three bedroom house that she was building wasn’t turning out as she expected. She dismissed nearly all of the builders and began building again, but this time, she was doing it herself.
Her father was a practical man, her first husband a contractor and she worked onsite as a project manager, so you could say that it was in her blood.
She continued to work on her house, not giving up, through the devastating loss of her mother, through the time she cut off the tip of her finger on a table saw, even through a full hip replacement, she kept on working on her house. Eventually, the house got to be a whole lot bigger than expected, so the decision was made for her by fate itself. The opening of Linda Se Dop.
Linda se Dop is a Boutique Hotel and has 10 rooms in total. We stayed in room number 1, a King Luxury Room and, in our opinion, the best option! Each room (with the exception of one or two differences) comes with a king size bed, a kitchenette, an en-suite bathroom and is wonderfully spacious.
Take a dip in the pool and cool off after a hot summer’s day. Relax on a pool chair and read up on some flowers in your botany book.
If you are here with your family and want to end the day off with a braai, you are more than welcome to. Just make sure you bring your groceries with you if you’d like something specific, the one convenience store in town might not have everything you need!
The garden is a really beautiful place to spend some time. I suggest coming here to watch the sunset. You can hear the birds chirping in the distance, the calming hum of the water feature in the centre of the courtyard and possibly see some other types of wildflowers that you might have missed during the day.
Included is a full English Breakfast, filter coffee and juice. I believe that you can also get continental and buffet options here, but it wasn’t available to us at the time due to Covid restrictions.
You can also get dinner right here from Linda. Linda serves whatever delicious homemade meal is for dinner that night, so if you have any specific food requirements it is best to phone ahead and arrange that before you arrive.
Linda Se Dop is in the tiny town of Nieuwoudtville, quite close to the Hantam National Botanical Gardens. The town is so small, that if you blink, you might just miss it. It lies safely between Vanrhynsdorp and Calvinia in the Western Cape.
It is much closer if you are coming from Cape Town, however, this is part of the Namaqualand Flower Route in South Africa and should really be done as part of a South African Road Trip to experience the famous wildflower route.
You can park your car securely inside Linda’s driveway. She stays in a mini estate that is secure in itself, plus she still has a walled and gated house within that. If it is busy you, might have to park outside the house, but still in the estate. However, It is a very safe town, you can rest easy, even if you don’t park inside the gate.
I would certainly visit Linda Se Dop if you are doing the Namaqualand Flower Route and are passing through Nieuwoudtville.
Nieuwoudtville was definitely where we saw the best displays of wildflowers the year (2020). There is also so much to see besides the flowers. I would spend around 4 days here if you want to see things in a relaxed manner.
You can always call or email Linda from her site.
If you are looking for contactless booking, we suggest either booking through Airbnb or Booking.com.
➩ When you first sign up to Airbnb and book using our code you can score up to R1000 off of your first booking and R200 towards an experience!
We visited Linda se Dop while on our 64-day road trip through South Africa.
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Disclosure: We received a sponsored stay at Linda Se Dop in exchange for this written article and inclusion in our video travel guide series. We always give our honest opinions and beliefs on products and services; our views, reviews and opinions are entirely our own. See our Disclaimer Policy for more info. This article also contains an affiliate link with Airbnb.
