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Added by Jopie, at 07 January 2017
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12 Reviews
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04 April 2018
Very interesting place to stay. Great breakfast. Clean and comfortable rooms. Not modern.
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15 March 2018
Awesome unusual place!All books and LPs,can spend a year there easily !! The atmosphere in the hotel is fascinating! The must see!
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07 January 2018
A brilliant, unique hotel with a fascinating host. We stopped on the way between Johannesburg and Cape Town, and we felt so happy and welcome we immediately booked again for our trip back down to Kenton. It makes a perfect stop on many routes, and with a dinner ready when you arrive, along with the largest private book and LP collection to dive into, it really is a home away from home. The rooms are simple but comfortable.
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30 November 2017
I meant to provide a review many months ago, so forgive me. What an absolutely remarkable place! Our visit in January, 2017, was just fascinating and fun! What a unique and historic establishment! Host Mr. Hocking (he should be Professor Hocking) is just amazing. Breakfasts and dinners are to die for. The turntable for the hundreds of thousands of lps needs a new cartridge. Hopefully we will solve that in January, 2018! Cheers!
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25 September 2017
Fabulous. Just fabulous. And Anthony, the owner, is just amazing.
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31 August 2017
This is the well known Royal Hotel in Bethulie that has some off-the-wall owners and have thousands of books and LPs lining the walls. We tried to go for lunch but they didn't seem to be serving and everything was a bit listless.
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10 August 2017
A perfect country hotel with a royal flair. This really is something special and while it is not a hotel that will be to everyone's expectation, it certainly is unique and well worth visiting. Bethulie is a great place from which to explore the area and with Anthony (the owner) giving advice you cannot go wrong. When you're off the beaten track this is a good place to be.
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12 May 2017
Our visit started awkward due to a miscommunication between us and the owner about our reservation. This resulted in the owner, Anthony Hockings, not knowing about our arrival, and us, for an entire day not understanding why he, the main reason for our visit, was nowhere to be found 😊 But even without them expecting us the staff present were very friendly and most helpful in sorting us out and making us comfortable for the stay. Entering the hotel, we were overwhelmed by the presence of thousands of books. Every available wall space is covered with bookshelves filled with books! The books consist mostly of paperback novels but also quite a few interesting books covering general knowledge subjects are to be found. I was told these books are only the tip of the iceberg and the owner have even more books in storage. A vast collection of vinyl lp’s are also kept in the historic dining room of the hotel. This dining room converted into a music room was at one stage during the Anglo Boer War, used by the British Military as a command post. No lesser personality than Lord Kitchener himself attended briefings in this room. The town of Bethulie is quite an interesting place to visit. Traces of history, from the early history of the founding missionaries, through the history covering Louw Wepener and the Orange Free State Basuto Wars up to the Anglo Boer War of 1899 – 1902 and beyond, is still to be found. Although the miscommunication led to us missing Anthony Hocking on our first day of visit, he more than made up with a guided tour the following morning. Time was limited because we planed for only one night stay in Bethulie and had to depart in appropriate time. Nether the less, a much-enjoyed morning was spent in Anthony’s company. He took us to a lookout point from where he related the tragic history of Louw Wepener and pointed out places of interest about town. We also had the privilege of visiting the actual site of the notorious Bethulie Concentration camp with him. Anthony made an in-depth study of the history of the region and his interpretation of Bethulie’s part played in the development of the Anglo Boer War is quite fascinating. I consider Anthony a very knowledgeable guide that can turn an ordinary visit to a hidden away town into an experience of a lifetime. The hotel accommodation was very comfortable and clean and the breakfast was tasty and of a high standard.
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08 March 2017
A beautiful old hotel with magical hallways filled with books. A worthwhile stop if you are in the Bethulie area. The owner is very knowledgeable on the history of the town and South Africa in general.
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18 February 2017
Lovely place
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22 January 2017
Such a quaint lovely place and the owner Antony has a wealth of knowledge about local history
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14 January 2017
One of the interesting places, historical. A MUST!
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