In South Africa, perhaps a bit like America, we’re a little sheepish about history. If something’s been around for a century it’s a monument; a few hundred years, it’s downright ancient.

And so Cape Town is rather proud of the history of the Vineyard Hotel & Spa, which was built as a fine country house more than 200 hundred years ago, and has been a hotel for 115 of those.

Author Rudyard Kipling stayed here for a turn, describing the hotel as “a quiet place surrounded by oaks under the shadow of Table Mountain”. Today little has changed, with the six-acre gardens and jaw-dropping mountain views still a hallmark of what is a fine country-style hotel in the suburb of Claremont, a short drive from both the city centre and the popular botanical gardens at Kirstenbosch.

I say ‘country-style’ because the Vineyard exudes a relaxed air that’s missing from so many city hotels. Despite offering 207 rooms and a (happily, fairly separate) conference centre there’s no sense of being just a number when you check in here. Rather there’s a charm and grace to the welcome that attracts leisure and business travellers who fall in love with the tranquil gardens, the rooms that are luxurious without flaunting it, the modern fitness centre and indoor/outdoor pools, the fine food at the two restaurants.

And of course there’s the Angsana spa: a slice of Asian serenity transported to Cape Town, where the skilled hands of the mostly-Thai staff will massage away any kinks from the long flight. No surprise it was voted best spa on the continent at the 2013 World Luxury Spa Awards.

From the spa to the gardens, the restaurants to the rooms, everything at The Vineyard is done with the dedication to detail typical of the Petousis family that have run this hotel for over three decades. If you’re looking for a bolthole out of the city, The Vineyard is your best bet.