The Cellars-Hohenort

The Conservatory at The Cellars-Hohenort was built round an oak, which had the prior claim: it is as old as the cellars. Those were the wine cellars of Klaasenbosch, a farm granted in 1693 on Table Mountain's eastern slope. The Hohenort, meaning high place, is the manor Arnold Spilhaus had built in 1906, and Liz McGrath brought the two together in 1993, with a staircase of Oregon pine made from the original roof's timber. Outside, the manor is white, stepped gables over a long columned verandah. Inside, the colour comes back: green ikat armchairs, and a sky painted between the bar's beams. The garden runs to nine acres and more than 2,500 roses, which get through about six tons of compost a year. The camphor grove was planted in 1773 and made a champion in 2015, which is a long wait for recognition.

Recommended for couples who want a garden to come home to after a day in Cape Town, and for families, who can have interleading rooms or the Liz McGrath Villa by the herb garden, which sleeps up to six. The V&A Waterfront is fifteen minutes away, and a daily shuttle there is included. The hotel's list of days out runs from the Constantia Greenbelt, for walking and cycling, to Seal Island, by boat from Hout Bay. The nearest beach, Llandudno, is 15 km off, so swimming happens at home, in two pools heated to 24 to 26 degrees all year, which in a Cape winter is a kindness. Breakfast, which guests praise, comes with the room. Among the roses is one named after Chris Barnard, the heart surgeon, and another created for Liz McGrath's eightieth birthday in 2003, by which time she had the garden to plant it in.