Head of Content Mark Keohane took his family to Barrydale in a Mercedes-AMG GLE 63S. He described it as an out of body experience.
Before a stunning weekend away in Barrydale earlier this year, I had the great fortune of dwarfing my everyday run-around by pulling a Mercedes-AMG GLE 63S into the garage.
I then had the privilege of taking it up Cape Town’s N2, via the awe-inspiring Tradouw Pass, to Barrydale for a weekend of indulgence and education and then experienced the driving splendour, via the N1, of Route 62 back home to Cape Town’s City centre at the foot of Table Mountain.
There’s a reason that car has that price tag, and anybody I see cruising around in one of those, respect because I know they’ve worked bloody hard to be behind the wheel of this beauty. Alternatively, there is the minority like me given a taste, through work and pleasure, of this delight.
I’ve said in previous articles that I favour style over speed, but putting foot in an AMG spec SUV turns three hours into two, and certainly not at the expense of any comfort. The Friday morning before the trip I had taken my son Ollie’s Defender up to the Spar and basically sacrificed my left arm changing gears. For purposes of qualification, I was recovering from a ruptured bicep surgery.
Later that afternoon I was flying down the N2 at an excessive speed, feeling like I was cruising down the coast, physically stretching the speedometer but mentally convinced I hadn’t yet hit 60.
There’s something to be said of the safety and security of driving an SUV, as well as of course the practicality. But you can’t quite put into words the experience of being behind the wheel of an SUV that’s putting out 430kW.
The specific model I had on my hands for the weekend was hyacinth red, which you can spec at an extra cost. I’m usually black or silver by choice, but it’s a statement colour to go with a statement car.
What impressed me the most about this Merc, which sits among the manufacturer’s top offerings – before you get into the realm of Maybach models – was the seamless meeting of comfort and performance. You’re driving a beast of an SUV and overtaking like you’re in a sports coupé or hatchback.
The previous week, I was trying out the GLC 400d Coupé. Beautiful car, champagne gold and understated in its road presence. But truth be told; same brand, different planet to the GLE AMG.
I’ve always enjoyed sedans and coupe models, but you’d be a fool not to appreciate the engineering and design that goes into producing an SUV that functions and moves like Mercedes’ AMG 63S.
My partner Gill is beautiful. So too my other passenger, our one year old daughter Paikea. My mode of transport completed the weekend of beauty. Or so I thought, until we arrived at Barrydale and Barrydale’s Karoo Art Hotel.
If we arrived in style, then we celebrated a weekend in style that is not to be confused with a weekend of opulence and indulgence. To the contrary, the indulgence was in what the environment allowed us to feel and do.
The experience of Barrydale, from the Karoo Art Hotel, to an afternoon at the Joubert-Tradauw wine farm, to Gin Tasting at Kenny Scheepers’s Gin, Whiskey and Brandy Distillery was as comforting as it was informative.
It was a weekend of rest, rejuvenation and in a strange kind of way, revelry.
Rick and Sue Melvill, founders of Melvill & Moon, own the Karoo Art Hotel. They purchased it 24 months ago and reinvented it. They happened to be in the United Kingdom on this specific weekend, but Rick texted me to ask if the hotel and Barrydale were giving us the required escape from the city.
This is my WhatsApp response: ‘The experience has been one of privilege and pleasure. I confess and apologise up front. I think a few trips were made to Swellendam to stock the freezer with more Jurgie!
‘Chef Derick’s food a delight, Mo (in the bar) such a character, Wilco (pending manager) chipping in even before his official Monday start, Debbie a gem, even though she was finishing off, the staff fabulous, kind & caring, Mickey Mentz just the most colourful ambassador to the Art of Joy you and Sue have created & Emmson, with his unique charm and charisma that, made us feel so comfortable.
‘We feel like we have lived here forever and even introduced Mo to the Mark paddle … 2 Jurgies & 2 Tequilas as one shot order … 😊 and that paddle runs regularly from the bar to our Prynnsberg room … ❤️🥂💜’
Before and after that message, we experienced Terry de Vries’s Labyrinth walk at her spiritual retreat and the tasting at Scheepers and Joubert-Tradauw.
A weekend felt like a lifetime, and to complete the fantasy, the drive back in the GLE 63S to Cape Town felt like a minute when mostly on trips back, for me, those travel days feel like a lifetime.
This was one of those weekends when the moment was magnified and no one needed hindsight to know the privilege of where we had stayed, the inspiration of the people we had encountered and the style, comfort and safety in which we had left our home in Devil’s Peak, Cape Town and way too quickly returned.
More on the Karoo Art Hotel!
Specs for the GLE 63s!
Everything you want to know about Cars here!
