We took time over coffee this morning, enjoying the scenery, it’s one of those views you can’t get enough of. We then packed up as we were moving cottages.
The drive to Varschfontein Cottage took us about an hour. A barren track led us past derelict outhouses and kraals as they littered the way to the old farm house.
This 3 bedroom old place was renovated in 2005. Not sure what was done to it but certainly it did nothing to diminish the old charm of a proper farmhouse that must have been built a 100 years ago. It was like we had moved back in time. No electricity, a donkey boiler for hot water and a huge kitchen fireplace for warmth and cooking.
The front of the old house boasted a flat landscape with the Leeuberg mountains in the near distance. In front, to the left of the house were 4 giant palm trees and to the right was a copse of tall bulrushes. Both seemed out of place in this desert environment. Clearly they are watered by the natural spring at the house.
An old windmill clunks as it brings the water to the surface. This water is clear and fresh, hence the name of that place, I guess, ‘Varschfontein’ (fresh fountain). There was an empty reservoir next to the windmill but someone had built a small water hole some 30m away.
Most Sandton housewives, upon arrival, would probably have got back in their Prado’s and headed for the nearest hotel. We felt a certain excitement about going back in time and roughing it like the old farming family must have done. I wish I knew more about the history of the house, but with no internet access this is not possible at this stage. In a way it is also fun, as the 3 of us have our imaginations running wild about the existence of the farmer that lived here. What we have put together from exploring the area and finding a grave site is that Petrus (1889 – 1967) and Gideonetta (1899 to 1975) Strauss must have lived here. This is only an assumption but Gareth, watching the sun set from a nearby hill said this was the perfect spot for the graves to be, as the suns final rays set there.
We didn’t go for an afternoon drive, there was far too much to explore here. We all wondered off in our own directions. Gareth up into the Leeuberg and returning with interesting rocks and fossils. Gray and I then spent time birding at the waterhole. From time to time a springbok came to drink and gemsbok grazed on the plains. Then we heard a hoot and upon investigation found a spotted eagle owl in the palm trees. It turned out there were two of them and at sunset we watched them fly off to hunt. As the sun set spectacularly over the Cedarberg thousands of Cape sparrows came to roost in the bulrushes, we couldn’t believe the noise they made.
Ga braaied dinner in the indoor hearth and we sat at the kitchen table and ate by candle light. After dinner the 3 of us played a word search game on my iPad (a kind of out of place activity). I guess the Strauss’s probably read the Bible.
We had closed the house up to keep the warmth from the fire in but it got so smoked up we had to open doors and windows to let the smoke (and warmth) out. Guess we were not cut out to be farmers. Luckily there were warm blankets on the beds.
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