Johannesburg truly has exquisite hotels and beautiful places to stay, and as you know we love exploring in and around our city, and The Peech Boutique Hotel is certainly a gem that we are glad that we discovered.
Located in the prestigious suburb of Melrose and close by to Sandton and Rosebank, it is ideally positioned in a suburb with boutiques, cafés and an adjacent park as well as a shopping centre easily and safely accessible.
The Peech originally used to be a private family home which was built in the 1950’s and was discovered by James Peech who subsequently bought the property with the plans to turn it in to a beautiful and upmarket boutique hotel.
The Peech’s still own and run the hotel to this day, as well as living on the property themselves which lends to the air of a home away from home, if you will.
Boasting an acre of lush, well maintained gardens and two crystal clear pools for dipping in during the heat of the Joburg summer, every piece of the property is utilised to its best advantage – cleverly placed wooden trellises allow plants to cover them and create natural dividers between rooms, stone pavers create walkways and even a large swing in one of the trees lends to the air of relaxed living.
The hotel boasts 16 standard rooms which are spread out across the property, and 3 of these rooms are manor rooms situated in the main house. In mid-December they launched their 14 luxury rooms, which are beautifully appointed in earthy and neutral shades and offer some unique décor items in the rooms in the form of artworks and beautifully woven screens.
The bistro is beautifully appointed and features indoor seating. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served here and we found the staff to be helpful and efficient – with a small, yet meticulously created menu to suit every taste and a wide variety of wines available from wine cellar.
Dinner was an absolute treat, and after a busy day of running around – being able to relax in the beautiful garden while sipping on some chilled rosé and savouring the cool evening breeze was heavenly. The dinner menu caters for all tastes and we opted for grilled Calamari espetada with an aniseed aioli and crispy tentacles to start and for mains we were hard pressed to select between the chicken and wild mushroom linguini or the crispy skin trout served on a bed of warm celery apple and radish slaw and served with chilli garlic and coriander on the side. The trout won – and it was delicious and filling.
If desserts are your thing – then you probably wind up dithering as we did – over the shortbread crumble with seasonal fruits and a crème anglaise or the salted chocolate tart with churros. Both are beyond incredible, let us just leave it at that.
After all that yummy food, we were quite ready for bed, and slept like kings in our beautifully appointed room – complete with a king size bed, thick carpeting and curtains, and a desk for a spot of work, if required. In room amenities include a safe, hair dryer, automatic coffee machine and snacks to nibble on as well. Each room has its own small balcony (our ground floor room had a plant screen in front of it) to allow one some time to sip on your coffee and relish in the fresh morning air – unseen by any one else.
Our bathroom was enormous and sported a large ‘Raindance’ shower, big bath, fluffy towels and all the lovely to have goodies, lotions and potions that make a stay that bit extra special. Breakfast is included in the room rate and offers a beautifully laid out selection of fresh fruits and yoghurts, cereals and delicious homemade baked goodies – and hot food items are available to order off the menu. Our scrambled eggs with salmon was delicious and we could not resist a little cheat in the form of a strawberry jam tartlet!
The Peech itself is described as an eco-chic hotel, and every care is taken to ensure that the environment is not harmed in any way. They have solar powered geysers in the new luxury rooms and the onsite bistro has a menu that is designed to use only the freshest seasonal ingredients from locally sourced suppliers and the hotel’s own vegetable garden.
The Peech also has on site conference and meeting facilities with full AV, in the form of a boardroom and a Green Room and offers the ideal solution for board meetings and smaller group strategy sessions. Tea and lunch breaks can be held in the garden or the bistro dining area – and these rooms can also be converted in to a private dining areas for a special occasion.
Not only are the team eco-friendly, but they are also big on responsible tourism by blending awareness for the environment and the community and is also Fair Trade Tourism certified – which we really like.
We certainly enjoyed our stay at this home away from home, and cannot wait to return to this haven of tranquillity right on our doorstep in the very near future.
A: 61 North Street, Melrose, Johannesburg
T: 011 537 9797
