Edible EDEN

This Franschhoek garden is a living landscape that harnesses harvesting and harmony

- LISA ABDELLAH

A vegetable garden had been a vision of Angala’s custodians, Peter and Tisha Cunliffe, since buying the property 15 years ago. It has always been a retreat of quiet luxury, but ‘we knew we wanted to do something more with the land, in terms of curating something that would feed into the lodge and be organic and healthy,’ says Tisha. ‘There was nothing else in the spot nearest to the lodge, just grass that was out of hand, and I often thought about what should go there. At one stage, I imagined a labyrinth to enhance Angala’s healing nature before settling on a beautiful vegetable garden where staff and guests could be present.’

The couple is building a home in Angala to live there permanently. They asked Landscape Designer Leon Kluge to transform the area into an integral part of the guest experience from the table to the spa and the retreat’s rooms.

Tisha recalls her first meeting with Leon, ‘We discovered we grew up in the Lowveld - he even planted passion fruit seeds from White River in the region in the garden,’ she says. ‘So, we shared a lovely connection, even though I'd only just met him, and I admired his gentle nature, talent and drive.’ The brief for the food garden was to weave it into every aspect of Angala’s offerings, where guests could harvest produce to enjoy during their stay or take home with them, and the chefs could create a menu reflecting the retreat’s farm-to-table philosophy through fresh, organic ingredients to connect guests to the land.