The Retreat is a Victorian farmhouse set in 560ha of the beautiful Groenfontein Valley Conservancy, bordering on the 129 000ha Swartberg Nature Reserve. The house, filled with yellow-wood and mellow Oregan pine, has a lounge and dining room - each with its own ceramic fireplace to keep them cosy on chilly winter evenings - leading onto a wide verandah, overlooking the sweeping gardens and majestic Swartberg mountains.