Location is everything at the Protea Hotel Dorpshuis & Spa, a charming 28-room lodging nestled among mature oak trees that dates back to 1887 in historic Stellenbosch.

Dorphuis means town house in Afrikaans, and the hotel is located on Dorp Street, the main street in the heart of South African wine country.

The room keys at Dorphuis are the old fashioned kind and you can get to old-time Stellenbosch attractions such as Oom Samie de Winkel (Uncle Sam’s store) the old-fashioned way — by foot.

Restaurants offering local wines are within walking distance, and your only challenge may be finding time to try all of them.

I enjoyed a walk along oak-lined sidewalks of Dorp Street, it’s gardens fragrant with roses. I strolled past gorgeous Cape Dutch style architecture on my way to Melissa’s The Food Shop.

If you stay at Dorphuis, be sure to visit the Rupert Museum right across the street from the hotel. When I went, it featured work by Irma Stern, J.H. Pierneef and other great South African artists.

Back in 1887, the Dorphuis was used to house farm workers. Later it was a home for students and then a boutique hotel. Protea hotels bought it in 2006 and took it from 18 rooms to 28, each decorated differently and full of antiques. Each room was spacious with high ceilings.

Samuel, the Dorphuis porter, doorman and security guard, wore white gloves and greeted me by name.

My two-story suite had a kitchen and living room and overlooked a small pool. The Wi-Fi was fast, and the bed was amazingly comfortable. I could have used a few more days there.

One of my favorite parts of the hotel was The Spookhuis (ghost house) conference room, named for the ghost that supposedly haunts the hotel. Ilse Strauss, the reservationist who gave me a tour of the hotel, downplayed the ghost thing.

“We don’t really promote that,” she said, “but staff working at night say they’ve seen a (ghost of a) man walking in the restaurant area. But I don’t believe that.”

With 14 seats, the hotel bar, Die Watergat (watering hole), is the cutest little bar I’ve ever seen. The actual bar itself came from an old train.

The hotel restaurant, the Oak Leaf, had an a la carte menu a with traditional South African food such as boboties, bredies and chicken pies.

The Oak Leaf breakfast buffet included some of the best beef sausage I ever had, along with other fabulous South African breakfast offerings such as guavas, stewed dried fruit, and seven kinds of jams and marmalades to spread on delectable bread and rolls.

This is a place I want to revisist.