#58. Andre’s Notes → Babylonstoren® Garden
Listen to Andre’s notes.
You’ve probably heard of Babylonstoren, a winery founded in South Africa in 1692.
Listen to André Brathwaite, podcast host of Inside Spaces by Forms of Recreation, share his notes on a space for gardening hobbyists to step into that goes beyond the products Babylonstoren makes.
The opinions expressed are solely those of Forms of Recreation and do not necessarily reflect the views of any brand mentioned. We encourage you to check their corresponding websites for further information.
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Episode 58
Andre’s Notes → Babylonstoren® Garden
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Think about the last time you grew something. Even something small — that small bean you helped germinate, a tomato plant on a windowsill that you bought at the farmers market, or the cilantro you kept forgetting to water until your friends started calling you Sahara.
There's something strange about growing things. It slows you down whether you want it to or not. You can't rush a seed. You just... wait, and give it some tender care, and wait some more.
So, my question for today is: what happens when a whole space is built entirely around that kind of patience? Not for people who dabble, but instead, people who'd happily spend an entire afternoon learning how to prune a fig tree properly.
I ask, because Babylonstoren's gardens in South Africa made me think about exactly that. A space where hobbyists who enjoy gardening as a hobby can finally feel like they've found their people.
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Welcome back to Inside Spaces — a podcast by Forms of Recreation — where I search for "wait, this exists?" spaces, built by brands that extend beyond the products they make, for people who take their hobbies seriously.
I don't hop on a plane and walk into any of these spaces. I do exactly what you'd do — I go digging online, through photos, articles, videos, and brand pages — and I share what I find as voice notes, so you can decide whether it's worth stepping into yourself.
This week: Babylonstoren, in South Africa's Cape Winelands.
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Let's start with what I dug up on this one, because its history alone is a really interesting one.
Babylonstoren was founded back in 1692 — one of the oldest Cape Dutch farms in South Africa, and over three hundred years of wine history sitting on this land.
But the version that exists today is much newer. When Karen Roos, the former editor of Elle Decoration, and her husband Koos Bekker initially bought the 590-acre farm, they intended to turn it into a private, weekend retreat that reminded them of the rural spaces when they were growing up. Talk about living out your childhood dream.
Think about it: you've got someone with a design and lifestyle publishing background taking over a centuries-old working wine farm. Plans changed. That combination is exactly why this place doesn't feel like a typical wine estate. And that's why Babylonstoren is not your typical anything.
Although Babylonstoren is known for selling wines, at the heart of it all is a garden. A 5-hectare garden designed by French architect and landscape designer Patrice Taravella, who got his inspiration from Greek mythology: the hanging gardens of Babylon.
Let's listen to a voice note I made while researching this.
[VOICE NOTE — lo-fi filter]
"Okay, I just found this and I need to say it out loud before I lose it. There's a gardener here, in his eighties, still coming in every week to take care of the historic fruit trees. Eighties. Still showing up. That's not a person who is trying to go viral; that's just a guy who never stopped loving what he does."
[END VOICE NOTE]Life goals.
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Okay — this is the time to use your mind's eye.
You arrive at Babylonstoren as a day visitor. They give you a map. You look up and the first thing you notice — is green. Rows of it, in every direction, with the sense that farming is taken very seriously and gardens designed tastefully. Pun intended.
The garden grows over 300 plant varieties, all edible or medicinal — and I keep picturing what it must be like walking a path, seeing a staff member, and without doubting, they can name every single plant around you and tell you what it's for.
Can we just address something really quick? When I think of the word garden, I'm thinking of someone growing some lettuce and tomato in a corner of their backyard as they dream up the toppings for their future grilled burger. Babylonstoren is different. They've got 5 hectares, which is equal to 12 acres of gardening heaven.
[VOICE NOTE — lo-fi filter]
"For the podcast, make sure to add that the Sunday Times called this place 'the Versailles of vegetable gardens.' I need that quote in the episode. That's just too good."
[END VOICE NOTE]Ok, I am actually looking at the pictures on their website — the stone fruit trees, the flower paths, the opportunity to simply wander — and the fact that you're actually encouraged to pick, taste, smell, and touch as you walk through. This isn't a gallery you just look at. It's one you can eat.
And yes, there's a whole estate wrapped around that garden too — restaurants, a hotel, cellar tours, an ice cream shop selling buffalo milk ice cream, the works. Worth knowing it's there. But that's not why we're here today.
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So, you're a gardening hobbyist. What would you actually do here?
There's a daily guided garden tour, plus a separate guided walk into "special collections" — a healing garden, historic fruit trees, beautiful succulents — each one apparently different enough that no two guided tours through them are ever quite the same, since each gardener shares their own take on what they find most interesting that day.
If you want to go deeper still, there's a one-day volunteer programme, where you actually work alongside the garden team for the day — weeding, harvesting, whatever the season calls for — rather than just walking through and admiring it. That's the difference between visiting a garden and actually earning your gardening stripes.
And the real depth is in the workshops. Trust me, by looking at the videos, they're hands-on. From composting to mulches, propagation, seed saving, and even sowing cover crops, taught by members of their gardening team.
There's a "Waterwise Gardening 101" workshop, taught by a botanist, on saving water and choosing the right plants for a drier climate — and you leave having actually propagated your own waterwise plants from seeds and cuttings to take home. The gift that keeps on giving.
Where’s that voice note I made?
[VOICE NOTE — lo-fi filter]
"Don’t forget to mention that you don't just learn about gardening at Babylonstoren — you leave with actual plants you propagated yourself. We all know that participation trophies go in the trash. This is living proof that you got your hands dirty.”
[END VOICE NOTE]And if you're the type who wants to slow down even further — there's a botanical sketching workshop, guided by a master gardener, focused less on getting all technical, and more on really looking at the natural forms in front of you. Basically — gardening as meditation, with a pencil.
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And that's really the thread running through this whole episode. Babylonstoren could have easily just sold wine bottles.
Instead, they built it for people who want to get their hands in the soil — who want to be around people who are into what they are into. It's for those who want to prune, to propagate, and to understand what waterwise actually means instead of just nodding along. They turned "look at this garden" into "come learn how we grow it."
That's the whole reason behind Inside Spaces, honestly. Finding a brand that extends beyond the products it makes by building a space centered on your hobby — and in this case, the joy of gardening.
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Alright — I know I'm not the only one who likes to share notes with others. If you're headed out to a space designed for your hobby — and it's by a brand that extends beyond the products they make — I want to hear about it.
No need to go as detailed as I did. Just tell me what you see, through a voice note. It's easy.
There's a WhatsApp link in the show notes, or visit formsofrecreation.com. Just send me a voice note describing what it was actually like for a hobbyist like you. It might make it into a future episode.
Tune in next week on Inside Spaces by Forms of Recreation, for a new space that inspires you to step in.
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Globally admired brands are extending beyond the products they make. We at Forms of Recreation help discover handpicked spaces designed for refined hobbyists like you.
