The enchanting Midlands have always been home to artists. In the 80's local artists joined forces and created an arts and crafts route they called the Midlands Meander.
The Midlands as an excellent road infrastructure, which takes travellers through scenic beauty while linking meander outlets and picturesque villages along with some of South Africa's leading hotels and country houses, and a host of delightful bed and breakfast establishments.
View of Pietermaritzburg Copyright: South African Tourism
Pietermaritzburg, set amidst forested hills and the rolling countryside of the Natal-Midlands, is one of the best-preserved Victorian cities in the world. The city is the administrative capital of the province and is centrally situated between Durban, the Drakensberg and KwaZulu-Natal's game reserves on the main N3 highway between Johannesburg and Durban; Pietermaritzburg is approximately 80 km north of Durban by road.
Balgowan is situated in the central portion of the Midlands Meander between Nottingham Road and Lidgetton. Balgowan has extended its orginal geographical location from a romantic old trading store and a train station where the local timber is picked up to surrounding farms in the Midlands.
The area Balgowan begins somewhere between Nottingham Road and Lidgetton on the Midlands Meander's R103 and extend towards The N3 highway, but ends before you get to Caversham.
There's absolutely no mistaking the pristine, inviting surrounds of Boston and Bulwer for anything but a long-established seat of pastoral plenty - the luxuriant, generously watered grazing meadows and impressive forests a perfect setting for picturesque settlements that beckon with our hallmark hospitality. These open doors lead to the entire spectrum of holiday accommodation, from quaint country hotels, guesthouses, farms and B&Bs, to rustic self-catering cottages, backpack lodges and campsites.
The small village of Eston is set among the rolling sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal. There is stunning scenery to be seen here with views of rolling cane fields towards the distant hills and down into the Gwahumbe valley.
Greytown was established in the 1850s and named after the governor of the Cape Colony Sir George Edward Grey who later became Premier of New Zealand. A Lutheran church was built in 1854. A church bell which was brought to the town for the Dutch Reformed Church in 1861 to summon the Dutch and English congregations was the centre of a series of theological arguments. It was stolen and buried, only to be found 74 years later upon the construction of some cottages. A strikingly designed Town Hall was opened in 1904. In 1906 following a poll tax and other oppressive measures imposed on the Zulus, the Bambatha Rebellion took place. Louis Botha, the Second Boer War General and first Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, was born on a farm 5 km south of Greytown.
Howick Waterfall Copywright: South African Tourism
This is were the mighty Mgeni River tumbles from the edge of the Midlands Plateau. On of the most dramatic waterfalls is undoubtedly Howick Falls, approximately 100 metres of spectacular display almost in the centre of the picturesque town itself. The falls were first seen by European adventurers in the early 19th Century, as transport riders and wagon trains pioneered routes inland from the coast.
Howick is today fairly abuzz with a noteworthy array of quaint and inviting taverns, cafes and restaurants to suit the mood of any discerning palate.
Ixopo is most famously described by Alan Paton in the opening lines of Cry, The Beloved Country: "There is a lovely road which runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it." The town houses two schools including a high school with a large proportion of boarding pupils who live in surrounding villages (such as Bulwer, Underburg, Creighton) which are too small too to justify the erection and staffing of a high school.
Dargle is an area South West of the N3 and is accessed from Lions River off the R103. Dargle is a beautiful valley, carefully nurtured and protected by the residents, it comprises a farmland charm and wilderness flavour. Amidst the beauty of the area the people here have warm hearts and a tenderness similar to the natural flora. Dargle provides a perfect natural retreat in wide open spaces.
This little piece of Germany is surrounded by hamlets of
definitive
origin - Harburg, Kirchdorf, New Hanover, Lillienthal,
Schroeders and
Hermannsburg. Wartburg itself is named after the castle in
Eisenach
where Dr Martin Luther translated the bible into
German...and the
village crest also depicts the immigrants' arrival by
sailing ship,
the Luther Rose and the call to 'pray and work'.
