Renovator’s Dream
As I have said before the old farmhouse on Rustfontein was a bedraggled, flea-ridden, bug-infested bundle of back and headaches. Luckily Herman has a very keen eye for potential and was always dreaming about restoring this old nest of mould and scrap since we had first started visiting this area in the early 1990′s.
Obviously his dream came true when we bought Rustfontein 5 years ago. As one knows ,” be careful what you wish for” and all the worries that come with actualising one’s dream more likely gives you sleepless nights and very little time to dream. However there was “something’” about that old farmhouse that couldn’t be denied. It crept up on you whenever you stood still and just listened. There is the silence and with that a comfort, a warm blanket that gets wrapped around you. A sense of childhood and nostalgia. Of a simple life and simple pleasures. A place where you could lie down and just sleep for a couple of days, restoring your strength while doing it. Us–being the suckers we are for places and feelings couldn’t resist.
I have in a previous blog posted pictures of the completed house and what she looks like today, however I haven’t shown you what it looked like before (or during ) renovations so here goes.
Far left is what the house looked like when we started, it was a dumping ground for all sorts of experiments the previous owner did. On the right is the same angle with new gable going up.
At the back of the house was a very badly built “add on” that created damp, dark corridors. The decision was taken to remove it and restore the house to it’s original footprint. Left are photos of the “add on” being removed, note the state of the walls on the right hand side. This area has now become an amazing outside eating area under an old Milkwood tree.
Left are before and during renovation pictures of the other side of the house.
The roof had a little attic but most of the beams were rotten, the footprint of the house is quite small so we decided to make a bigger attic and put in upstairs bedrooms and a bathroom. Thatch is a traditional roofing medium in this area so that is what we went for. We managed to keep the original floorboards. Some of the roof beams were salvageable and have now been made into a 20 seater table and benches for the new area out back.
No comments yet.
Leave a Reply
Farm Life and Country Living
Herman and Margie live on a farm in South Africa–this is their blog on country living, eating honest food from the land, farming with guests and creative expression.
We moved here in June 2004 from Cape Town, it was our holiday house set on 3 hectares of ground along a wide meandering river on the south coast—a year later we bought the neighbour’s farm–now called Rustfontein.
Rustfontein is 630 hectares of fynbos, wildlife, views, open spaces and quiet.
On the farm we have (so far)
2 adults (us)
2 children (age 13 and almost 10 )
2 dogs (Bella the Beautiful-a Rhodesian Ridgeback- and Sunny the “very badly behaved,chicken thief, Jack Russel”)
2 budgies
3 cats (Pumpkin and Zazoo–both ex-Tomcats, orange in colour and great rat catchers and a little throw-away cat called Vaaitjie, blackish with a pure white undercoat, the sweetest thing.)
15 hens, 4 roosters
1 Macou duck (Muscovey)
40 odd sheep (“dorpers” bred for meat not wool)
50 odd cattle (Bonsmaras)
2 horses (Shadow and Llwyd- pronounced Louie)
When I look at this list all that seems short is a pig and maybe a goat? And some easy to pluck ducks apparently the Macou are hell to pluck—and I keep on coming across some delicious duck receipes.
We have finalised the renovations on the old farmhouse on Rustfontein, as well as the shepherd hut which is on the “backlands” –what we locals call the part of the farm that runs into the hills away from the river–the fynbos and wide open spaces part. We rent out the main house for holiday makers and the hut as an adventure sleep-out for those who like get up close with nature.
We like to feed ourselves as much as possible from what we can grow and produce ourselves (all organically of course) so we have a little farm kitchen were we cut, chop, cook, bottle and label all under the name Rustfontein-Guest Farm. This produce is also for sale to our guests. Honey, greenfig preserve, marmalade, jam.
Life is busy here in paradise–but it is a lifestyle we choose , to be honest and true to the land and our surroundings and to bring our children up in touch with nature, well grounded and to know we are supported by Mother Nature. To have the skills to venture out into the world with a true knowledge of how things really work.
-
Recent Comments
silas mmutloane on Bonsmara–our cattle of… sue on Old Farmhouse Renovated rusfontein on Making Wors
