• Jo-Anne Richards and Jo-Anne Hitchens running the Art of the Memoir workshops at the Karoo Art Hotel Barrydale
    The Hotel Blog

How we found the Karoo Art Hotel, Barrydale

Posted on Thu October 21, 2021.

How a chance visit during an offroad motorbike trip lead to a life changing purchase made on a whim

I arrived on a motorbike. Six months ago. I was with a group of friends on adventure bikes out of Capetown . Our focus being the Cederburg and the Tankwa Karoo. But on the way home we’d booked into a hotel I hadn’t heard of in a village I’d never visited; The Karoo Art Hotel, Barrydale. It was a Friday afternoon. As we drew up to the hotel my attention was drawn by a banner on the wall; ‘Hotel auction Wednesday’.

We never attended the auction but called Derek the Chef after it was over to find out what had happened.

"Nothing happened, no body came, no one called" came back the reply. It wasn't long before Sue and I plus Charlie, Zoe and Derek were sitting in the breakfast room. One thing lead to another and we're now the owners of The Karoo Art Hotel, Barrydale

 

Further Reading

GVW of the room drops by Thu August 21, 2025

It's the one room name that befuddles people (unless they are out of the advertising industry). "What is GVW?" we are sometimes asked. "It's not a 'what' it is a 'whom'. GVW = Graham Victor Warsop, the celebrated creative director and South Advertising icon. He's a friend. When we bought the hotel he offered to do a bedroom room". Or was it the other way around ?). It's one of the 17...

Read This Article
Introducing a proper guide to some seriously exciting local hikes Wed August 20, 2025

Arno Pienaar is an accredited tour guide and being a man of the mountains he's already walked the talk .

Read This Article
Welcome home Cathy Milner 28th-31st August.

"Drawing is not what one sees, but what one can make others see." ~ Degas

Read This Article