December was a brilliant time to visit Barrydale

Posted on Sat January 10, 2026.

It was a month of celebration that included the SA Small Town of the Year award and ended with a street party where we could give a nod to a great year now past and the real promise of 2026.

It was the time of the annual Net vir Pret puppet parade.

This year Foxtrot Oscar , our Royal Enfield, had the honour of leading the parade as transport vehicle  for this years puppet parade leader The Bull. Never has a driver taken their role more seriously (or found a better hat) 

The LED Christmas light installation by Magpie lit up

world class creators of chandeliers and other lighting from found objects just across the street from the hotel sprang to life once again down  in the park .

Graham Abbott's annual Analogue Festival happened

Bringing a dose of real hands on creativity in a world where currently mesmerised by AI. There were analogue prints on the wall selling for over R1000 proving that hand made and man made is only going to become more valued. 

The dress theme for the New Years eve street party got people thinking 

It's turned into a real dress up event 

The new flags went up.

With an icon for each of the Arts of the Karoo Art Hotel. Pictured are just a few of them. The Art of the Road Trip, Art of dance, Long & Prosper (perhaps the key Art of all), the Art of the bar, the Art of a Karoo kitchen. 

We resurrected the tradition of the movie posters on the bioscope wallWith a twist.

We are the movie

Charlie continued to get himself into many a pic

Sure proof that Sue is behind the camera

Each and every day brought another inspirational thought

Stand by. We're acting on the idea of an annual poster with a year of thoughts

With summer in full swing the verandah pumped once more.

New years eve came an everyone came to the party.

Here's to 2026 from the town of the year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further Reading

Helen Van Stolk took our ideal of the hotel as a creative salon and made it a reality Tue August 4, 2026

At the flick of a switch Cape Town artist Helen Van Stolk filled the entire hotel with a group of top artists and sculptors with no agenda beyond just a shared time of inspiration and talent, fulfilling a long held dream that we'd become a home from home for people of this ilk.

Read This Article
A reason to book into Barrydale, The Karoo art hotel's early morning swim club in the Tradauw Pass
The Karoo Art's Barrydale To Do list is leading to longer stays Tue August 4, 2026

When you read our Trip Advisor reviews there's still many a client wishing they'd made more of a stay of it. But it's less and less as case or a one night stand these days thanks to a bulging village To Do list

Read This Article
The town of the year is worth more than just a one night stop Mon August 3, 2026

Two journalists had checked in the night before. It was a our Christmas party. We were closed for the day. But at breakfast they were so full of questions that Wayne never boarded the party bus to Warm Waterberg and committed the morning to showing them the dorp. Only later did we find out why they were in town. The things he showed them are why the town is changing from a...

Read This Article