On the 26th of August 2011 Tulbagh is holding a spring arts festival. Panga Management thinks Tulbagh is very- very pretty, with astoundingly well-preserved Cape Dutch architecture. However it is one of those small/conservative/everyone’s going to hell towns. You know the one’s PM means, where the locals don’t want to become restaurateurs or B&B owners when they grow up, but small town circumstances has forced them to open coffee shops on their verandas. If you have ever visited a small town you would have come across the type. They begrudgingly serve the stranger- danger factor AKA not local-yokel an over- priced (even by Cape Town standards) cup of coffee, which is weak, and tepid, and painstakingly slow in the coming, while all the time noting the less -then- long length of your hem line. “Yup”, you can hear them thinking “that guy is going to hell!”
Photo credit :PM
PM digresses. Small towns and art are a funny-strange and occasionally funny-ha-ha mix. Tulbagh (an hour and a half from Cape Town) nestled in the cleavage of two mountains ranges is no different in this regard, proven by the events of 2006. The story goes as follows .There was going to be an exhibition of nudes in Tulbagh. This distressed the dominee who predicted that an earthquake (like the one that happened 37 years earlier in Tulbagh) would rage and rumble and cause havoc if the nude exhibition was to open. Read article here . What can PM say other than the obvious; PM agrees with the dominee, one must never underestimate the power of tits, ass and art!
Photo credit :PM ( the beautiful old church)
Annnyway, PM thinks the spring festival sounds like a god damn good excuse to visit a pretty small town near you. If your going, PM’s consumer research/experience suggests that you do yourself, you pocket, and your tummy a favour and eat at the Rijks hotel restaurant , which is just outside of the main town, the menu is fantastic and well priced, the views are breath-taking , and the service is great, Layton the front of house guy is really nice. The other restaurants in town ( bar the pizza place) are kinda charming in a strange way, but not charming or strange enough to pay R70.00 for a breakfast that is less than Wimpy- average, are you picking up what PM is putting down?
Photo credit : PM The view from Rijks , and yes that be something very cold on the mountain tops)
Staying in one of the old Cape Dutch houses on Church Street (PM stayed at the little Courtyards ) is a treat for those who love architecture, but be warned the service is really crap and disorganised. If you tend towards homicidal thoughts when you pay for DSTV, and the only bouquet they have is the Botswana channel, best to give staying there a skip. (Note: PM does not give a shit about DSTV, but it’s the principle of the matter! ) And one last thing, there is a really-really cool succulent shop to visit too .
Panga Management 
The good burgers of Tulbagh are not the first to have considered PM’s hem-line and formed conclusions.