Things to do
We love the moment our visitors realize that they get to choose their pace during their visit. Deadlines and to do lists are foreign to the concept of “kuiering”.
Here is an Insider local guide to our favourite things to do in Cradock:
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Visit the Mountain Zebra National Park
https://www.sanparks.org/parks/mountain_zebra/
- book a Cheetah Tracking experience
- go on a guided or self-guided game drive
- bird watch
- pack your bathing costume to swim in the natural rock pools
- remember your hiking boots to take a (short) walking trail
- request a picnic from Die Tuishuise & Victoria Manor to take along to the Park
Go the Schreiner Museum where you
- learn about the Olive Schreiner, the woman who made an impactful difference in the world- as a novelist and feminist
- stand in awe as you go back 200 million years at the exhibition in Conference Room
https://www.cradock-info.co.za/town/business/293/olive-schreiner-house-museum-cradock
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Visit our Cradock Graveyard and find the graves of
- Harry Potter http://karoospace.co.za/karoo-keepsakes-i-here-lies-harry-potter/
- Reginald Koetlitz, Polar Explorer to the South Pole with Scott of Antartic https://www.thegreatkaroo.com/listing/a_stroll_round_cradock_town
- General Kritzinger, Boer War hero
- British soldiers from the Boer war https://www.boerenbrit.com/archives/22734
- Jewish settlers https://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/communities/9/index.htm
Take a guided Township Tour
- Visit the Cradock Four Garden of Remembrance, go and see their graves as well as the famous ANC legend JA Calata’s
- Learn about Xhosa Culture
- Visit some schools and a tavern
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Experience Cradock’s History at the Fish River Museum
- Learn about the Cradock Four
- See the long list of famous Cradock writers at the Fish River Museum https://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/cradock/attractions/great-fish-river-museum
- Take a look at the historic ox-wagons of all shapes and purposes
Walk through Historic Cradock and take in the beautiful old buildings
- NG MoederKerk, replica of St Martins in the Field, London, built1868
https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/NG_gemeente_Cradock
- St Peters Anglican Church designed by Sophie Gray, built 1858
- Methodist Church built 1842, the imposing Victorian Manse in 1902
NG Moeder Kerk Modelled on St Martins in the Field in Trafalgar Square, London
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Enjoy the fun that the gushing Fish River has to offer
Walk, run, hike, climb, boulder, abseil, horse-ride or mountain bike up a Karoo koppie and experience true solitude and majestic views.
- Oukop, Eerstekrans or Egg Rock
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Meet locals – # live like a local
- Participate in sport – canoe, golf, tennis, jukskei, bowls, bridge
- https://golfcentral.co.za/directory/golf-courses/eastern-cape/cradock-golf-club/
- Attend a local market or Festival
Experience farm life – Cradock one of the most diverse farming experiences in the country, with veld, game and irrigation farms to visit.
- Pick pecans or walnuts, picnic in the orchards, visit the walnut shelling factory.
- Ride a tractor, walk on a farm.
- Visit an ostrich, sheep, cattle, game or angora goat farm.
- Experience milking at a dairy farm.
- Enjoy a self-sustainable homesteading experience.
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Photo Credits Chris Marais
Shop local craft and antique shops, buy
- sheepskin slippers and mohair blankets
- If you can’t come in person to Cradock, you can buy online karoospacecentral.co.za; www.onlinekaroofarmersmarket.co.za
Itineraries – Why not stay another day? Here are some ideas for what to do:
1 night 2 day
Day 1
Take a stroll through historic Cradock – choose guided or self-guided option
Dinner at Victoria Manor
Day 2
Breakfast at Victoria Manor
Mountain Zebra National Park –choose guided or self-guided option
STAY ANOTHER DAY
+1 Explore Cradock, meet locals, do a course
+1 Visit a Karoo Farm
+1 Visit surrounding towns – Graaff –Reinet and Nieu Bethesda
+1 Visit surrounding towns – Somerset East and Bedford
“Look to Cradock for slow living. The laid-back atmosphere of this farming
town in the Eastern Cape encourages travellers to ease up and take in the
iconic landscape of the Great Karoo. The flat-topped koppies in the eastern reaches of the Karoo are as familiar to South Africans as the buttes of
Monument Valley are to Americans. The eroded hills, capped by dolerite sills, sit in a stark, scrubby landscape of fragrant bossies that give the local meat its flavour. It is a landscape that is still mostly uninhabited. Towns grow slowly
out here, their borders spreading little by little each year, and the pace of life is unhurried. Cradock is one such farming town, midway between Bedford and Nieu-Bethesda, split by the Great Fish River on the edge of the Great Karoo. The streets in Cradock are wide and traces of glamour and grand architecture remain – the relics of a historical wool boom. Overall though, this is a town of un-presuming people and home comforts – local dishes, sheepskin slippers and homemade preserves. Park the car and rather walk through Cradock – maybe you’ll spot the tree full of roosting lesser kestrels. In the morning and late afternoon, the sandstone Dutch Reformed Church, built in a neoclassical style in 1868, catches the sun as the light rolls away across an expanse of open country dotted with sheep and windpumps. “ TEXT ALICE INGGS Elle decoration 2017
Interesting reads about Cradock
HIDDEN STORIES OF CRADOCK, KAROO
TRIPADVISOR DOUBLE ON CRADOCK’S MARKET STREET PRECINCT
KAROO HEARTLAND ROAD TRIP PART I
TALES FROM DIE TUISHUISE, CRADOCK
Seasons in Cradock – Karoo Calendar
Summer: Hot, with occasional rain 325mm per annum – Lamb Shearing Season
December – Christmas Party Celebrations and guests en route to the coast
January – perfect for Swallows to come and stay in Cradock
February – Athletics and Tjaart Vorster Tennis Tournament, great for spectators
Autumn – Beautiful days and evenings – great time to visit
March – Marlow Rugby Weekend – great for spectators, find pomegranate and quince
April – Karoo Food Festival roughly around 27 April
May – Music in the Karoo, watch this space for Choir Festival details
Winter – Cold mornings and evenings, beautiful sunny days, delicious oranges on trees
June- Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival, around 16 June
July – School Holidays and Grahamstown Festival
August – Tennis Tournaments, great for spectators
Spring – Beautiful days, blossoms and jakarandas in late November
September – Fish River Canoe Marathon – annual highlight
October – Magnificent heritage roses at Die Tuishuise & Bedford Garden Festival
November – Cradock Show – amazing to see the show horses on parade
Other EXCURSIONS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST: Ghost and Graveyard Tours, Town and Township Tours, Stargazing, Bird Watching, Fly Fishing, Xhosa Singing, African Angels – Hum and Sun Massages, 4×4 and hiking trials, Karoo Cooking Courses.
Photo Credits Chris Marais
We love the moment our visitors realize that they get to choose their pace during their visit. Deadlines and to do lists are foreign to the concept of kuiering.
Here is an Insider local guide to our favourite things to do in Cradock:
Visit the Mountain Zebra National Park
https://www.sanparks.org/parks/mountain_zebra/
- book a Cheetah Tracking experience
- go on a guided or self-guided game drive
- bird watch
- pack your bathing costume to swim in the natural rock pools
- remember your hiking boots to take a (short) walking trail
- request a picnic from Die Tuishuise & Victoria Manor to take along to the Park
Go the Schreiner Museum where you
- learn about the Olive Schreiner, the woman who made an impactful difference in the world- as a novelist and feminist
- stand in awe as you go back 200 million years at the exhibition in Conference Room
https://www.cradock-info.co.za/town/business/293/olive-schreiner-house-museum-cradock
Visit our Cradock Graveyard and find the graves of
- Harry Potter http://karoospace.co.za/karoo-keepsakes-i-here-lies-harry-potter/
- Reginald Koetlitz, Polar Explorer to the South Pole with Scott of Antartic https://www.thegreatkaroo.com/listing/a_stroll_round_cradock_town
- General Kritzinger, Boer War hero
- British soldiers from the Boer war https://www.boerenbrit.com/archives/22734
- Jewish settlers https://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/communities/9/index.htm
Take a guided Township Tour
- Visit the Cradock Four Garden of Remembrance, go and see their graves as well as the famous ANC legend JA Calata’s
- Learn about Xhosa Culture
- Visit some schools and a tavern
Experience Cradock’s History at the Fish River Museum
- Learn about the Cradock Four
- See the long list of famous Cradock writers at the Fish River Museum https://www.lonelyplanet.com/south-africa/cradock/attractions/great-fish-river-museum
- Take a look at the historic ox-wagons of all shapes and purposes
Walk through Historic Cradock and take in the beautiful old buildings
- NG MoederKerk, replica of St Martins in the Field, London, built1868
https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/NG_gemeente_Cradock
- St Peters Anglican Church designed by Sophie Gray, built 1858
- Methodist Church built 1842, the imposing Victorian Manse in 1902
NG Moeder Kerk Modelled on St Martins in the Field in Trafalgar Square, London
Enjoy the fun that the gushing Fish River has to offer
Walk, run, hike, climb, boulder, abseil, horse-ride or mountain bike up a Karoo koppie and experience true solitude and majestic views.
- Oukop, Eerstekrans or Egg Rock
Meet locals – # live like a local
- Participate in sport – canoe, golf, tennis, jukskei, bowls, bridge
- https://golfcentral.co.za/directory/golf-courses/eastern-cape/cradock-golf-club/
- Attend a local market or Festival
- Ride a tractor, walk on a farm
Shop local craft and antique shops, buy
- sheepskin slippers and mohair blankets
- If you can’t come in person to Cradock, you can buy online karoospacecentral.co.za; www.onlinekaroofarmersmarket.co.za
Itineraries – Why not stay another day? Here are some ideas for what to do:
1 night 2 day
Day 1
Take a stroll through historic Cradock – choose guided or self-guided option
Dinner at Victoria Manor
Day 2
Breakfast at Victoria Manor
Mountain Zebra National Park –choose guided or self-guided option
STAY ANOTHER DAY
+1 Explore Cradock, meet locals, do a course
+1 Visit a Karoo Farm
+1 Visit surrounding towns – Graaff –Reinet and Nieu Bethesda
+1 Visit surrounding towns – Somerset East and Bedford
“Look to Cradock for slow living. The laid-back atmosphere of this farming
town in the Eastern Cape encourages travellers to ease up and take in the
iconic landscape of the Great Karoo. The flat-topped koppies in the eastern reaches of the Karoo are as familiar to South Africans as the buttes of
Monument Valley are to Americans. The eroded hills, capped by dolerite sills, sit in a stark, scrubby landscape of fragrant bossies that give the local meat its flavour. It is a landscape that is still mostly uninhabited. Towns grow slowly
out here, their borders spreading little by little each year, and the pace of life is unhurried. Cradock is one such farming town, midway between Bedford and Nieu-Bethesda, split by the Great Fish River on the edge of the Great Karoo. The streets in Cradock are wide and traces of glamour and grand architecture remain – the relics of a historical wool boom. Overall though, this is a town of un-presuming people and home comforts – local dishes, sheepskin slippers and homemade preserves. Park the car and rather walk through Cradock – maybe you’ll spot the tree full of roosting lesser kestrels. In the morning and late afternoon, the sandstone Dutch Reformed Church, built in a neoclassical style in 1868, catches the sun as the light rolls away across an expanse of open country dotted with sheep and windpumps. “ TEXT ALICE INGGS Elle decoration 2017
Interesting reads about Cradock
HIDDEN STORIES OF CRADOCK, KAROO
TRIPADVISOR DOUBLE ON CRADOCK’S MARKET STREET PRECINCT
KAROO HEARTLAND ROAD TRIP PART I
TALES FROM DIE TUISHUISE, CRADOCK
Seasons in Cradock – Karoo Calendar
Summer: Hot, with occasional rain 325mm per annum – Lamb Shearing Season
December – Christmas Party Celebrations and guests en route to the coast
January – perfect for Swallows to come and stay in Cradock
February – Athletics and Tjaart Vorster Tennis Tournament, great for spectators
Autumn – Beautiful days and evenings – great time to visit
March – Marlow Rugby Weekend – great for spectators, find pomegranate and quince
April – Karoo Food Festival roughly around 27 April
May – Music in the Karoo, watch this space for Choir Festival details
Winter – Cold mornings and evenings, beautiful sunny days, delicious oranges on trees
June- Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival, around 16 June
July – School Holidays and Grahamstown Festival
August – Tennis Tournaments, great for spectators
Spring – Beautiful days, blossoms and jakarandas in late November
September – Fish River Canoe Marathon – annual highlight
October – Magnificent heritage roses at Die Tuishuise & Bedford Garden Festival
November – Cradock Show – amazing to see the show horses on parade
Other EXCURSIONS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST: Ghost and Graveyard Tours, Town and Township Tours, Stargazing, Bird Watching, Fly Fishing, Xhosa Singing, African Angels – Hum and Sun Massages, 4×4 and hiking trials, Karoo Cooking Courses.