Ants in the beds. Don't try to have a shower unless you are a midget as the length of the cord is 2 foot long so you have to sit down for a shower only to find the water alternates between boiling hot & freezing cold ..... no middle ground. We had booked for 3 nights and stayed just one. No airconditioning and in January VERY uncomfortable one ceiling fan in the room, you may open the window but beware of the noice coming up from the street as the local drunks enjoy their party.

I only stayed there for one night. The whole place is huge and so are the rooms. It has soething special to it, since it used to be the palace of one of the ostrich barons, but somehow lacks atmosphere. I felt a bit lost in the rooms since they are so big, but lack adequate decoration. Also, the bathroom looked nice, but could use some proper refurbishment. A good thing was that the gardener had washed our car the next morning.

Plus

+ This is one of the original "Feather Palaces" which were built during the Ostrich Feather Craze of the early 20th Century. With their new wealth the barons created lavish mansion like Foster's Manor
+ Historic Setting
+ Great hospitality
+ Run by local college as a training site for students, nice mission

Minus

- Do you like the smell of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)? With KFC across the street, you get the overwhelming odor over and over and over again
-Located on a main street in the middle of an town that is not very scenic
-I am not a fan of Oudshoorn and would skip this town. Stop at Kango Caves and keep going

We booked a night at Fosters Manor through the tourist office in Outsdhoorn. We had stayed at 4* B&Bs/Guesthouses for the previous week along the garden route, which were outstanding value and quality, so we presumed a 3* would be fairly good too.

We were wrong. This is not a 3* property, or else the grading system in South Africa is odd. The gap between this B&B and 4* B&Bs is enormous, both in service, quality of rooms and value for money.

Fosters Manor is grand, but a bit old and eerie. We had a massive room, too big. Like the other reviewer, the furniture looked too small. It was clean etc but not conducive to sitting in your room for long. The bathroom was more modern but very small.

Breakfast was fine, but again the staff do seem to stand and stare as you eat breakfast. Not as warming/welcoming as other B&Bs.

We only stayed one night but Im sure there are nicer places to stay in this town.