Detailed Review
Follow the coast three hours south of Perth, Western Australia and you will find one of Australia's finest private boutique hotels, Cape Lodge. Cape Lodge is located in the principal wine-growing region of Margaret River. It's neighbours include the great wineries of Vasse Felix, Moss Wood, Pierro and Cullen. The extraordinary beauty and diversity of the area is striking, from its majestic karri forests and pristine beaches to the rural mosaic of viticulture and dairy farming.
Cape Lodge is set amid 10 hectares of forest, parkland, vineyard, gardens and lakes. The original homestead contains the lobby, guest lounge, conservatory restaurant and six guest rooms. The remaining accommodation is a mixture of rooms and suites divided amongst three detached wings encircling the main lake.
Press Quotes
"Charming boutique hotel with its own vineyard in the majestic wine-growing region of Margaret River." Conde Nast Traveller 05
Independent Reviews
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"Opulent, chic and expensive lodge set amongst vineyards and lakes"
Cape Lodge
By John Borthwick
Ever since a stretch of Queensland shoreline long ago proclaimed itself “the Gold Coast”, almost every chunk of the Australian littoral has adopted a tourist-come-hither tag. (When will some frank council promote their stretch of sand and sunburn as the Carcinoma Coast, or some strand of shipwrecks and drowning statistics call itself the Fatal Shoreline?) There is, however, a fine stretch of Indian Ocean coastline in southwest Western Australia that I’ll happily dub “the Lighthouse Coast”. It runs quite literally from lighthouse to lighthouse, a neat 100-km, from Cape Naturaliste near Dunsborough (which is about three hours drive south of Perth) to Cape Leeuwin at Augusta. This is a coast of colours, of thumping aquamarine swells, fat red grapes and sands as fine and white as Meissen china. The traveller seeking accommodation at its Cape Lodge near Yallingup, can meander through cathedrals of karri forest (at Borunup), stumble upon turquoise waters (at Geographe Bay) and cruise through old timber towns whose notable features range from banana smoothies and incumbent hippies (at Nannup) to the rather more flash boutiques and wineries of Margaret River. Having navigated all this, I arrive at the serene country estate of Cape Lodge. “It’s a garden for the eyes, ears and nose,” declares the executive chef Tony, sweeping a hand in the direction of the empire of senses that are the 18 hectares of Cape Lodge domain. Sure enough, there are purple explosions of Pride of Madeira and yellow freesias, plus the gossip of frogs and water music (and from the restaurant the post-prandial murmur of satisfied diners). “The local fishos have dropped off the best of last night’s nannagai, dhufish and king crabs,” says the chef, “and there’s a bloke due soon with a pick-up full of veggies from his friends’ gardens.” Over the next few nights I sample this very local fare: char grilled marron on palm sugar dressed greens; venison with rocket and parmesan; poached pear and passionfruit tart with double cream — all abetted by neighbourhood wines like a Vasse Felix riesling or Cape Lodge’s own 2000 sauvignon blanc. And so to bed. My spa suite (one of 18 suites) looks out onto the gardens and a broad, mirror-smooth lake. The suite is comfortable although not elaborate. The frogs gossip on and on, and somewhere out there a lighthouse beam sweeps the ocean night.
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