Liz at Lancaster entered the AA rating process where guests give feedback after their stay to assess the quality of the accommodation, its facilties and the service offered.  Liz and her team at Liz at Lancaster :  Zac, Catherine and Thandi, were really delighted that Liz at Lancaster reached the final round in the AA and American Express Awards in the category B&B/Guesthouse with S/C (1-7 rooms) .  Congratulations to La Boheme Guest House in Upington on their win.  The dinner was held in the Durban City Hall. Built in 1910, the year that the 2 republics and the 2 colonies were united into what is now known as South Africa , the grand neo- Baroque building typifies a colonial style. It was a wonderful setting for the banquet for some 400 people from all parts of South Africa.  Sedate clapping, wild cheering and excited ululating, gave an indication of how the complete spectrum of South Africa was represented at these Awards. 

It was a great evening with a delicious meal, interesting people, wonderful ambience and all organized with seeming effortless efficiency. 

We hope to be back next year. 

I can not think of any thing that they could have done better. I stay in many 4 and 5 star hotels around the world and this is one of my favorite places to stay, it is a relaxed, friendly location with a peaceful atmosphere. Peter Coote  UK 03/12/10

Hi Liz,  Hope my company sends me back to Jo’Burg again soon. I will definately be staying at your place. The thing I like best is – when I need something, you are there and when I am just relaxing in my room I am left alone. Say hi to Zak and everyone else. Thanks.   Ray Ferares at FrontRange Solutions 11/12/09

Liz and her staff were very welcoming to us as deaf visitors. Also, she helped us arrange a next stay at Karoo. It was nice of her. I was very impressed with their quality of breakfast food which was organic, natural, and healthy. Thank you for your excellent service. We would love to stay there again or refer someone to stay there.   Vladimir Pavlyvkovets USA    03/01/10 

Every place in the world should have a Liz @ …! Please organize that in Berlin! Regards Frank  30/11/09

Great place and more than perfect host…..thx. a lot – will come back and strongly recommend this place to friends of mine Claus PS: Liz, we are looking forward to seeing you again in March 30/11/09

We are from usa, i was pleased to stay at liz’s BB. they were the good service to us, yes i highly recommend you to visit there. if we visit in joburg, we would stay there again in the future. enjoy!  Sung Park USA 03/01/10

No, this is not part of a 21st Century marketing drive for Liz at Lancaster Guest House, but rather comes from The Transvaal Leader 10 March 1911 (p. 8 c.7) where Craighall Park is advertised as a rural escape from the hustle and bustle of the town.  The idyllic atmosphere of out-of-town is couched wholly in the language of the  English picturesque – no harsh dry Highveld here, but rather pure idealized English countryside with all the accompanying activities of boating, fishing, country strolls, and that most English of pastimes, picnicking:

‘… broken stretches of water which have been caught and collected by the surrounding hills, glisten in the sunlight. Craighall being [sic:is] particularly fortunate in possessing an abundant supply. The lake itself is a fine sheet, where boating can be had in the most favourable circumstances. There are any number of boats to be had. In the vicinity are to be found numerous shady nooks, leafy trees, patches of verdant green, and miniature waterfalls, restful and cooling to the eye; while the place suggest ideal spots for walks and picnicking. Fishing, too, is a pastime that can be indulged in owing to the lake having been stocked with carp. …’

This discourse of Englishness is entirely understandable given the historical context of the founding of the township of Craighall Park.  William Grey Rattray (died July 1928) purchased the estate (which included present-day Craighall, Craighall Park and Blairgowrie) in 1891.  This was only 6 years after the proclamation of both Johannesburg’s gold diggings and of the original adjacent townships that were later to make up the southern part of Johannesburg CBD.  Originally part of the larger farmland Klipfontein no. 479, District Pretoria,  Rattray named this estate after his home in Craighall, Blairgowrie, Perthshire Scotland. [Blairgowrie is the name of the suburb adjacent to Craighall Park on the north.]  (David Rattray of  The Zulu War battlefields fame, was the granson of William)

Although 229 acre-plots were made available for sale by 99 year leasehold in Craighall in 1902 [post the South African War], and 300 plots (of the 600 surveyed), by freehold in Craighall Park in 1911 [post Union], the suburbs of Craighall and Craighall Park were initially seen to be too far out of town to be fully viable.  In addition, Craighall Park in 1911 was about an hour’s drive from the city centre and fell just outside the tram service which ran to Parktown North, the adjacent suburb to the south.

Initially outside the municipal boundary and so avoiding municipal taxes, Craighall Park came under the jurisdiction of the Craighall Health Committee when Johannesburg was established as a city in 1928.  The 3 suburbs of Craighall, Craighall Park and Blairgowrie were incorporated into the municipal area of Johannesburg in 1938 and improvements such as the tarring of roads and installation of street lights only occurred after the Second World War.  The original house comprising part of Liz at Lancaster’s guest house dates to 1948. Liz and her then husband bought the property from the original owner in 1971. For the changes in the buildings of Liz at Lancaster see future blog.

As Rattray developed Craighall, and with his Scottish background, he named the streets after famous Scottish families, hence Talbrager, Douglas and so on. The streets of Craighall Park were named after English ducal families, such as  Somerset, Buckingham, Lancaster, etc.  Buckingham Avenue [one below Lancaster] in Craighall Park was one of the main roads off Jan Smuts, itself one of the original roads to Pretoria. History has it that in order for the ox-wagons to manage the steep hills in this area, the road curved to follow the gradients of the hill. Presumably some of the subsequent roads like Lancaster and Rutland were built to follow the same curve as Buckingham which explains why these roads start at the Parktown North side of the suburb (in the south) and curve round to meet Jan Smuts much further north.  Craighall Park is such a confusing suburb largely because the roads do not follow the traditional grid pattern.

The recreational aspect of Craighall Park is evident in the number of hotels which were found in this suburb in the early days. Rattray farmed the land of his newly founded estate but he also dammed the Braamfontein Spruit to make the Craighall Lake. In 1905 the first advertisement appeared for the Craighall Park Hotel (which was apparently Rattray’s original home). This advert referred to the hotel as an ideal recreational spot for city dwellers. Mr Sam Kruger who owned a boot factory and then later the Craighall Park Hotel (where the Colony Centre is today) gave his name to Kruger St – a sole exception to the English ducal heritage of Craighall Park !!

Interestingly, when Liz at Lancaster applied for consent use   to run a Guest House,(according to  municipal bye-law),  the title deeds had to be changed as they included a clause which stipulated that: ‘no hotel restaurant or hotel business or any tea room’ could be carried on without the consent of owners of 4 other property owners in Craighall Park.  After investigation it transpired that this stipulation had nothing to do with protecting the  non-commercial nature of the suburban neighbourhood , but related to historical title deeds of hoteliers who were protecting their commercial rights !!  Incidentally I was also not allowed to have a slaughter pole or cattle kraal on my property !

Southern Sun, one of South Africa’s leading hotel chains and one which has a very high presence in Sandton, has a number of different hotel categories in its stable.  Ranging from the budget category: Formula One and Stayeasy (none in Sandton) to the economy category of the Garden Courts to the 4 star and luxury 5 star Deluxe hotels. Rates range from extremely reasonable to high end prices. Although Southern Sun offers excellent rates during the quiet winter months on the ‘Sunbreaks’ package, these special offers depend very much on availability. A search for a single supplement with breakfast in the Southern Sun Sandton stable for the arbitrary date of 21st July yielded the following rates:  Garden Court Sandton (Katherine St) R902; Garden Court Sandton City R1196; Grayston Southern Sun R1216; Katherine St Southern Sun R1259; Sandton Sun R1805; Sandton Towers Intercontinental R2280. The Hyde Park Southern Sun, as a 4 star hotel will fall into a  category equivalent to Katherine St and Grayston Southern Suns.