It had been one of those weeks: my partner Sam and I were both über-stressed from 5 days of ridiculous deadlines and assorted work-related pains in the neck. Even our sons Josef (10) and Benjamin (8) seemed unusually ratty - a week of wall-to-wall school activities and extra-murals will do that to you, I guess.

The whole family was in desperate need of some serious relaxing and a weekend away at the De Hoop Nature Reserve near Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape promised to be just the thing. Once we negotiated the perpetual traffic jam that is Somerset West everybody's spirits started to lift and the drive through the beautiful Overberg countryside, chequered with recently harvested wheat fields and dotted with hundreds of cylindrical straw bales, was an absolute joy.

But it was De Hoop itself that seemed to strip all of the tensions and stresses off our minds and bodies as soon as we arrived. This strip of fynbos and pristine coastline simply exudes a deep sense of natural calm and beauty that had us all relaxed in no time.

View the gallery here

We were there for a special weekend featuring classical music with the De Hoop Collection which will hopefully become a regular feature on the De Hoop calendar. The De Hoop Collection offers a unique selection of luxurious accommodation options and we stayed in a recently renovated, very spacious and beautifully furnished house called the Black Oystercatcher.

All of the houses are fully equipped for a self-catering stay, but our special weekend was fully catered, starting on Friday evening with a braai under one of the magnificent Wild Fig Trees in the Opstal area of the reserve, which, as Josef and Ben soon figured out, make the best ever climbing trees.

De Hoop is not the kind of nature reserve people visit to see terrestrial wildlife, although you're likely to get as close to a Cape mountain zebra or an eland here as you would anywhere else, but it's an absolute Mecca for bird-lovers. The more than 260 resident and migratory species include flamingos, pelicans, the African black oystercatcher and the vulnerable Cape griffon vulture. We spend Saturday morning looking for some of them - there are also guided birding tours on offer - on a walk along the shores of the huge De Hoop Vlei.

For lunch we collected a picnic basket from the restaurant and headed for the beach. From the cliffs near Koppie Alleen we could see dozens of whales frolicking in the De Hoop Marine Reserve, which is one of the world's most important calving grounds for the southern right whale. The two beaches here are absolutely gorgeous and practically deserted most of the time. We spend a couple of fun hours taunting the waves, making sand angles and exploring the shallow rock pools.

Saturday evening was billed as the highlight of the weekend and we were not disappointed. A quintet of professional musicians (flute, cello, two violins and viola), flown down from Gauteng especially for the occasion, treated us to a marvellous programme that started with a number of Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Bach, Haydn and Mozart classics and was followed after an intermission by a selection of more contemporary pieces.

I think Sam and I had forgotten how enchanting classical music can be and in combination with the magical setting, the entire performance was an unmitigated success. Even the boys - not usually ones to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time - were enthralled by the music. The evening was completed by a delicious three-course dinner at the Restaurant.

On Sunday morning we headed back towards Cape Town refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to face the world. A weekend at De Hoop is guaranteed to be brilliant all on its own, but the great musical evening added a whole new dimension to the experience. Keep your eyes open for future editions!