1 February 2024 Susannah

Literary Hotels – The Mount Nelson

The Mount Nelson Hotel

I’ve been enjoying a January holiday in South Africa, so it seems appropriate to feature one of that country’s most famous hotels this month.

The Mount Nelson in Cape Town is situated between Table Mountain and the city, and first opened its doors to guests in 1899. It was the idea of Sir Donald Currie, shipping magnate, who wanted to provide a place to stay for elite travellers making transcontinental voyages. It was the first hotel in the country to offer hot and cold running water, and the first to offer a heated swimming pool. The hotel is painted a soft pink, and tea with cucumber sandwiches on the terrace of ‘The Nellie’ is something of a Cape Town institution.

The Mount Nelson has been a home away from home for many writers. Young Winston Churchill, there for his work as a war correspondent in the Boer War, described it as “a most excellent and well-appointed establishment which may be thoroughly appreciated after a sea voyage” (his mother, Lady Jennie Churchill, also stayed at the Mount Nelson). In 1922 Agatha Christie (not yet famed as a novelist) stayed there as part of a world tour she was making – she had her first experience of surfing at Muizenberg Beach, and loved it. In 1925 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a visitor and upset other guests by holding séances in his room. Another literary guest was Noël Coward who arrived in 1944. His plays were immensely popular in South Africa, and he was invited to the country by the wife of Prime Minister Jan Smuts. He was greeted by a crowd of 30,000 people on his arrival. Coward’s play Blithe Spirit was translated into Afrikaans as Die Vryerige Spook (The Amorous Ghost). Coward enjoyed a stay of 19 days at the Mount Nelson. Rudyard Kipling, in South Africa for the Boer War, attended a dinner of the Automobile Club of South Africa while he was a guest at the Mount Nelson, and gave a speech (Kipling was an early enthusiast of the motor car). He and his wife often returned to Cape Town to escape the British winters. H.G. Wells was a visitor, though he probably failed to endear himself to the locals when he described the South African government as a “petty white tyranny”. More recently, Nelson Mandela was an honoured guest, and Alexander McCall Smith has written about “the astonishing beauty of Cape Town” and recommends the Planet Bar of the Mount Nelson as the best place to meet friends for a drink. Today, what was once the hotel’s oak-panelled writing room, is now the Lord Nelson Restaurant, but every room comes equipped with a writing desk.

I am lucky to have relatives to stay with in Cape Town, but I would still love to spend a night staying at this ‘grand old lady’ of a hotel, which has so many nice literary connections. Tell me your thoughts by leaving a comment here.

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Header image- The Mount Nelson Hotel, https://www.booking.com/hotel/za/belmond-mount-nelson.en-gb.html

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