Nottingham Road

Nottingham Road sits in the Midlands, the belt of rolling grassland and plantation between Pietermaritzburg and the Drakensberg foothills, and it is the anchor of the Midlands Meander - a route of studios, farm shops, potteries, cheese makers, weavers and country hotels that has run since the mid-1980s and now lists well over a hundred stops. The village itself is small: a hotel dating to the nineteenth century, a store, a brewery whose beers are sold across the country, and a scatter of guesthouses on the surrounding farms. The appeal is the driving between them - cool, green, misty in summer, with horse studs and trout dams either side of the road - and the fact that the crafts are working businesses rather than displays. Going without a car makes no sense; the Meander is a road route and the stops are spread over tens of kilometres.

What you actually see

• The Meander - studios, potteries, cheese makers and farm shops spread over the district.
• The village - a nineteenth-century hotel, a store, and the brewery.
• Midlands country - rolling grassland, horse studs and trout dams, misty in summer.
• Working craft - businesses that produce rather than displays for visitors.

When to go

All year; December to March is green and misty, winter is dry and brown. A weekend.

Honest expectations

A car is essential and the stops are far apart. Many studios keep short hours and close on Mondays. Quality varies widely along the route - some stops are gift shops. Winter grass is dry and the landscape less appealing.

Nearby

Howick and its falls are south-east; the Drakensberg foothills are west.