Happy masseuses, Dee-Dee and Sena
Beside the beautiful Swartvlei Estuary, approximately 8km from Sedgefield’s centre and 35km from Knysna, you’ll find the stunning Lakeside Lodge & Spa and the ‘taste-fill’ Benguela Brasserie & Restaurant.
It was the treat of all treats when i was taken there for an hour massage, my first in 8 years, and a 3-course meal accompanied by delicious wine from their owner’s Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate.
Wherever i go, it’s staff that normally make the biggest impression, good or bad. Here, they made a big, positive impression.
When we arrived, a staff member who was departing stopped his car to ask if he could help us. He offered to call the manager but we said we didn’t want to worry him and that reception would be cool. At the front desk, we met two smiling ladies, Sena and Dee-Dee, who were to be our masseuses. Dee-Dee greeted me by name, saying that she recognised me because she was a subscriber to my Love Knysna Facebook – life in a small town 
It’s not a whale, it’s me :)
My buddy and i were offered separate rooms but we decided to skip our body insecurities (a massage, as this proved, can be an intimate experience) and be in the same room. It was a good choice because we all shared friendly conservation and a lot of laughter. Well, it was that way in the beginning, as we experienced a combination of Swedish massage and deep tissue massage. Being pampered with oil and having aching muscles and our minds soothed into peacefulness (for 60 minutes) took us close to slumber. As important, if not more, was connecting with another human being, a spiritual feeling that we’re all connected and in the right place. It was definitely the right place, in that spa, for me
If it wasn’t for the fact that we knew that there was a great meal awaiting us, we may have never left that room… read about our food experience at Benguela Brassiere & Restaurant.
I left my SD card behind, making my camera useless, but the scenery is so beautiful that using a cellphone never mattered (click thumbnail to enlarge and scroll).
