Spier Launches Time For Good

Spier’s wide range of Growing for Good initiatives empower our communities to unleash positive social and environmental change. With Time for Good, hotel guests are invited to be a part of the action! Book one of these inspiring activities, and we guarantee your visit to our historic wine farm will be meaningful, moving and memorable. Whether you’re on a family getaway, a romantic escape or travelling as a group, Time for Good activities are an essential, unforgettable add-on to your Spier experience. Each takes place either on our farm or in the surrounding community.

What will it be: getting your hands dirty, planting trees or volunteering in our food garden? Harvesting and tasting wine in our organic vineyard? Cooking soup for the community in winter? The choice is yours!

Volunteer in our Food Garden
On a tour of our Food Garden, you’ll learn all about regenerative agriculture and permaculture gardening from our team of friendly, knowledgeable gardeners — and get to meet the pest control patrol: a paddle of runner ducks! Fancy getting some dirt under your fingernails? Volunteers are welcome in this tranquil space, where you’ll help the team cultivate a bounty of nutrient-rich and delicious produce without inorganic pesticides or artificial fertilisers. Your time will be well spent, whether weeding and harvesting, or packing seedlings and veggies that are donated to local community feeding schemes.

Donate essentials to under resourced schools and the elderly
Have some space to spare in your suitcase? Then why not fill it with essential items to be donated to some of the Winelands’ most vulnerable residents. As a proud member of the global initiative Pack-for-a-Purpose, we’ll distribute any school stationery, art supplies, children’s books, educational games and sporting goods you bring to under-resourced rural schools. If you’re able to pack adult toiletries, bedding and other household items, we’ll pass these on to Zandvliet Care Facility which looks after the elderly.

Tackling poverty one seedling at a time
Enjoy an inspiring tour of the Tree-preneurs nursery on our farm, home to 23 000 indigenous plants! Project manager Lesley Joemat has empowered dozens of “Tree-preneurs” living in impoverished communities to grow indigenous trees and plants. Once the seedlings she’s given them to nurture have reached a certain height, they are exchanged for essentials such as food vouchers, clothing, agricultural goods, tools, bicycles and educational support.

Taste wines in our organic vineyard
There’s no better person than our Organic Winemaker, Tania Kleintjes, to show you around our farm’s organic vineyards. At the tour’s completion, you’ll unwind between the rows of vines as Tania pours you a taste of our three acclaimed organic Farm House wines. The cost of the tour includes two organic wines to take home. If the tour falls during the annual harvest (typically a several-week period in February and March), you’ll be able to both lend a hand with picking the perfect grapes and tasting them too!

Visit and volunteer at the Sustainability Institute
A close neighbour and longtime partner of Spier, the Sustainability Institute runs a range of activities and programmes aimed at creating more equitable and empowered futures. As a volunteer in its food garden, you’ll plant, harvest and enjoy a wild food tasting, followed by a harvest table lunch. Other volunteer opportunities through the Institute include tree-planting, soup-making, knitting, children’s reading circles and youth sports. You can also tour the Sustainability Institute’s campus, learning about its education programmes, as well as the renowned Lynedoch Ecovillage – an ecologically designed, socially mixed community built around the campus.

Explore regenerative agriculture and recycling
Our Segway tours aren’t just exhilarating fun in the fresh air: they’re also a great way to learn about Spier’s deeply rooted commitment to the earth. As you glide effortlessly past our organic vineyards, you’ll get the lowdown on all things green — from recycling to regenerative agriculture. Along the way, you’ll meet happy, free-roaming chickens, visit our eco-friendly wastewater treatment plant (which recycles 100% of the farm’s black and grey water), and stop by the tranquil Food Garden, where delicious produce is cultivated without artificial fertilisers or inorganic pesticides.

Venture with raptors into the wild
Walk amidst Cape fynbos with majestic hawks, learning how birds of prey keep ecosystems healthy and balanced as they enjoy their daily exercise and conduct natural “pest control”. Into the Wild sessions will begin at Eagle Encounters — the raptor rehabilitation, conservation and education centre at Spier — with an introduction to falconry. You will then enjoy a leisurely hike on the farm with the Harris hawks freely following on and gliding around you. Eagle Encounters is also open to visitors, with exhilarating personal encounters and spectacular interactive flying shows with even more birds of prey (including eagles, owls, kites and buzzards). You’ll also get to meet other critters, including foxes, snakes and lizards.

Become a patron of the arts
The Creative Block project invites artists, both established and emerging, to create work on a small blank block. The blocks are submitted for critique, and the best are purchased and made available for sale to visitors – showcased across the farm. Creative Block is ideal for the budding art collector. With a modest budget, you're able to establish – or expand – a collection of delightfully diverse artworks. This will ensure you are among the early collectors that help to support artists at the beginning of their careers. We invite you to see how a collection of Creative Blocks displayed together becomes a newly created, composite “artwork” that honestly expresses contemporary South African society. Curious to learn more about South Africa’s thriving art scene? A walking tour showcasing the highlights of Spier’s art collection (one of the country’s largest) is available upon request.

Connect and craft with local artisans
The vibrant Craft Market at Spier is a sustainable social enterprise which improves local livelihoods, provides eco-friendly shopping and adheres to Fair Trade principles. As you browse the stalls, you can chat with the talented artists and artisans creating striking art and design. Their one-of-kind pieces range from paintings, carvings and jewellery to beadwork, textiles and ceramics. There are also extraordinary items made from recycled and upcycled materials. Give it a go! Individuals and groups can book a fun Make-it-Yourself session where you’ll try your hand at painting, jewellery-making, beadwork or wirework. Our experienced artisans will share their techniques and know-how, encouraging you to unleash your own creativity.

Ready to make your stay at Spier Hotel meaningful, moving and memorable? Click here.