What Can You Do For The Karoo?

When you’ve had enough of life in the city, what do you do? Some people pack their bags and move to the platteland, where a completely different – but also at times challenging – lifestyle awaits. Artist Cobus van Bosch and journalist Madeleine Barnard can attest to that.

- Peter Van Noord

It all began with a good old road trip more than 20 years ago. Two creative people, who walk the path of life together, packed their yellow 3.0-liter Ford Cortina, called Die Piesang, and set out from Tamboerskloof, Cape Town, heading north. Destination: Karoo.

At the time Cobus van Bosch was a full-time arts journalist at Die Burger newspaper, and Madeleine Barnard was the internal communications officer at Old Mutual. For three years prior to that, she was a publicist for the Artscape drama department. Two journalists and free spirits, living life in the city’s fast lane.

And here they find themselves in the platteland today… in Prince Albert. Two artists, entirely freelance now, older and wiser. And they love working and pottering about on their 1000m2 patch in Meiring Street. Blissfully happy, with their three cats, Nols, Milly (who became Mielie), and Snoek.

Cobus is an acclaimed artist whose oil paintings feature in collections worldwide, and he’s the maker of magnificent knives. He pampers the bonsai trees you find at every turn in their garden, enjoys fishing, and likes to muck around in the vegetable garden – oh, and when it is olive season, he preserves jar upon jar of this Karoo specialty.

Madeleine is a singer-songwriter with three albums to her credit. She also teaches singing and works as a freelance journalist. (Read her article about ghost stories of the Karoo on page 110). She is involved in community work, and experiments with beeswax, coconut oil and essential oils in the making of hand cream and other body products. She admits to being a compulsive collector of succulents and calls herself the original “cat lady” – she has an impressive collection of feline sculptures.