The Free State is the Cinderella province of South Africa.

However, the Free State is landlocked, so it doesn’t have the beaches of Cape Town, and its economy is based on large-scale farming and corn mining, neither of which is particularly decorative. But, it is seriously underrated.

There are beautiful mountainous areas in the east, where dramatic concave sandstone cliffs and bright green rolling grasslands form the foothills of the Maluti and Drakensburg Mountains. The main agricultural activity here is cherry farming, which tends to be a much prettier crop than corn.

There is excellent walking and mountain biking in the hills, and the scenery is stunning.

Golden Gate Highlands National Park, with its many day trips and hiking trails, pony trails, beautiful rock art, and small game, gets its name from the magnificent gold-hued sandstone cliffs.

Adjacent to the park is the Basotho Cultural Village, which showcases historical and contemporary aspects of Sotho culture, which straddles the Free State and the adjoining kingdom of Lesotho.

Small towns, like Clarens, are idyllic little hideaways with a significant population of artists, craftsmen, and other refugees from the rat race, and many beautiful old houses are built from the gleaming golden sandstone.

The Ash River, which flows into the eastern Free State from the mountains of Lesotho, has some of the most dependent whitewater rafting in South Africa. There is excellent fly-fishing in the eastern highlands, both for trout and the much more interesting indigenous yellow fish, which are found in abundance at the huge Sterkfontein dam.

The small farming town of Marquard is the center of the cherry-growing area and is a noted destination for mountain biking. Every November in Ficksburg, another small farming town with pretensions to becoming a hot spot, hosts a cherry festival. It’s an excuse for local people to see some outsiders like the big band of gypsy traders who travel from festival to festival. You may, if you’re lucky, even find some cherries.

The northern limit of the province is the Vaal River, which supports some fun rafting trips, particularly near the town of Parys. Parys, which is the Afrikaans version of Paris, is a great little city, with great cafes, loads of arts and crafts establishments and – must have something to do with the name – a fair amount of fashion designers. Near Parys is the Vredefort Dome, which is South Africa’s newest World Heritage Site.

It is the site of an ancient meteorite impact, the scars of which are still perceptible. In addition to the spectacular and fairly rugged terrain, which is a result of the impact, attractions here include some small game farms, hiking trails, and some pretty bad mountain biking trails. Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, is a nice little town with lots of open spaces and some interesting museums. So there’s plenty to do in the Free State, but keep in mind that it’s all pretty low-key and laid-back.

This remains the agricultural heartland of South Africa, a place where things should not be rushed.