I played for eight days at Somerset West Croquet Club, South Africa in their February Tournament – a mixture of AC Advanced, Handicap & Doubles, although I didn’t compete in the pairs! 

SWCC is a beautiful club set in the middle of the local wine region, so row upon row of growing vines can be seen from any of it’s four courts, which are all hard & fast at this time of year! Another unique feature of this club is the way they ‘seem’ to have cured the problem of ‘rabbit runs’ under hoops – they bury bricks lengthwise twix the uprights  and cover them with a 8″x3″ piece of artificial turf blended into the surrounding grass, changing them when they show any wear. 

Play? The temperatures ranged during the week from 22°C to 35°C as I had match after match against locals and ‘swallows’ (UK players who winter down here). 

Happy to say that I progressed into both finals (Adv & Hcp) and then shut them both out against a -1.5 & 5. 

I’ve had a brilliant time, the members are very welcoming, the swallows are just as friendly and the local restaurants are amazing! … come on down, I’ll be back. 

Paul Rigge