There are few secrets in Verlorenvallei

All platteland towns have that one famous (or infamous) character who knows everyone's business. Meet Livia Hoogenboezem, the keeper of every piece of gossip in Verlorenvallei...

Make magic with winter's abundance

This winter menu is our invitation to look beyond the bewildered herb garden, move out of your comfort zone and bake a loaf of bread, appreciate the beauty of a head of cabbage, and invite the rain gods to the table to feast with you on venison pie, pudding and cake.

It takes a family

Christian Fry and his fiancé, Pippa de Lange, arrived at Dombeya with just a day to spare before the Covid-19 hard lockdown commenced in 2020. Their purpose was to save the Fry family farm from being sold. They've settled into life in their Elands River Valley haven now but continue to dream big and work hard.

For the love of birds...

They may be called birdwatchers but they are in fact using their ears. As Johan van Zyl discovered on his maiden outing as an \"avian tourist\" with BirdLife South Africa to find the 450 bird species that live in the Garden Route and Little Karoo.

To the babbling brooks of Sabie

Roughly every five years, Jaco and Jens Reverchon get itchy feet. They hopped around Cape Town, moved up north to the Greater Kruger and then, recently, put down roots next to the Sabie River where they live a peaceful life with their animals.

Creativity & community in Dinokeng

The driving force behind the successful Makers Village in Irene has now implemented the same concept in Cullinan, creating an incubator and exhibition space for entrepreneurs and artists. Platteland dropped in at this budding creative hub to find out what it's all about and came away impressed.

Willie Strauss Never an idle moment

A variety concert... that is how to approach your life and career when you want to survive as an artist living in the platteland. So says singer, lyricist and radio food expert Willie Strauss, who entices visitors to Die Sinkstoor in Cullinan with traditional offal and his mother's Bushmanland boerekos.

To die for

How do you avoid the tourist avalanche if you live in an Afromontane forest where holidaymakers descend in December? You drive to lonely outposts in the mountains of the Cape, says photographer Obie Oberholzer, and you make pictures rather than take them.

1 Fiat 500 2ha 4 boys...19000 miles!

When the go-cart that an engineer father had built for his four sons couldn't handle the tufty terrain on their 2-hectare plot in Montana, Pretoria, they hunted down a Fiat 500 in a salvage yard. They only wanted its suspension system, but Mom intervened, the car was saved, and those little daredevils clocked up an impressive 19000 miles - all without leaving the plot.

SUTHERLAND Cold town, warm hearts

Life in Sutherland in the Northern Cape isn't always easy, but even those who leave tend to return. Come with us to find out why.

The art of small talk

In the city, a glib smile suffices when it comes to interaction with any stranger that crosses her path. Yet a visit to Struisbaai taught Elizabeth Wasserman that small talk is no small matter

From food scraps to compost in a jiffy: We test the iCompost

If turning kitchen waste into compost could be done at the touch of a button, more people would take it up, and much less waste would end up in landfills. That’s what Himkaar Singh, the man behind the innovative iCompost, believes. Platteland was keen to put this innovative appliance to the test

Find wisdom in the forest: It all starts with soil

A tree is an investment in any garden, even though patience is required to pluck the (figurative) fruit. When you plant several trees together to create your own forest, the reward is much greater. They offer shade, they support life… and they improve your soil. We spent time reflecting in our white karee“forest”– and learnt a lot

Ohrigstad's tiny big farmer

Agriculture courses through the veins of the Els family, who have been farming in the Ohrigstad valley in Limpopo since the 1930s. And they are getting younger and younger: Grandfather Jan Els was 36 when he set out, father Dewald 27… and littleWaldo got behind the wheel of massive machines at the age of 6!

The head hen who lays the golden eggs

The Country Chic is a delightful specialty store in the Swartland where small farmer and entrepreneur Suzanne Smit sells the organic free-range chicken eggs and poultry meat she produces – straight from her farm to the shelves of her own store

On mountains and moments

On a trip in the southern Drakensberg, a torrential downpour and a field of prickly thistles got acclaimed photographer Obie Oberholzer thinking about the power of perspective

Ballad of the butter farmer

High up in the Italian Alps, Maria van Zyl learnt to make the tastiest butter in South Africa. Then she started a clever “subscription farming business” delivering dairy products to households in the Cape on a weekly basis, which is how she could afford to buy the first five cows for her micro-dairy. Meet the (bio)dynamic small-scale farmer with big plans

Spring on a stick

Expand your braai repertoire by serving a side dish of flavourful spring-vegetable kebabs cooked to perfection over the coals.

A puzzle of nostalgia

Ride a fat bike through the town where you grew up - an abiding landmark in your life - and behold the picture that reveals itself.

Let's braai!

Celebrate Heritage Day on 24 September with this braai menu, which Platteland put together from Martelize Brink's recently published second cookbook, Oor die Kole.

Cents and sensibility - Is growing your own veg worth it?

In this fast-paced world where we expect everything to be convenient and cheap, a kitchen garden is a beautiful but unattainable dream for most people. With the economy in its current state, one might justifiably wonder: isn't it more affordable simply to buy your vegetables at a grocery store?

Postcards from the Tankwa

The R355 between Ceres and Calvinia is the longest stretch of gravel road between two towns in South Africa. And if you find yourself on this route, you're in the Tankwa Karoo. From the road, the surrounding plains seem lifeless and dull, but when you stop your car, sit quietly and breathe in the atmosphere, you realise there might just be much waiting to be discovered here.

The Velddrif hustle - Boats, bazaars and bokkoms

Since Rob and Maria Kirsten picked unassuming Velddrif on the West Coast as their new home 17 years ago, they've built their own house and established a number of successful businesses.

A river runs through it

Some of the most desirable - and correspondingly expensive - real estate in the world is located beside rivers, and South Africa is no exception. Alan Duggan went looking for people with an affinity for flowing water... and came away with a plan for the rest of his life.

Kameel... Where is that, exactly?

There are many small towns and villages in South Africa that you've probably never visited but their names will ring a bell. Then there's a hamlet like Kameel, with 49 silos and 27 residents...

Sisters of the soil

Two years ago, nine small-scale flower farmers across the country found one other on Instagram and created a support network called Hort Couture Flower Collective. Who would have thought a flourishing new venture would sprout and bloom from the hardship of the hard lockdown?

Get away from it all in Vanderkloof

Lying among koppies on the shore of South Africa's second-largest dam is Vanderkloof, an oasis in the Upper Karoo. There seems to be consensus that you won't find a town anywhere else in the country as peaceful and safe as this one.

To the mountains

Enveloped by the Swartberg on the farm where her son was getting married, Juliana Coetzer realised how mountains and their healing energy have supported her throughout her life.

Koperfontein - The winds of change are blowing.

It's little more than a siding and a stop on the railway line to Saldanha, but Koperfontein is getting a new lease of life thanks to a wind farm and a new coffee shop and venue.

In the shadow of glants

Eucalyptuses the colossi of our landscapeare spread out over a large part of South Africa and offer respite to man and beast and bee. Still, it's become the done thing to simply get rid of these "aliens". Please think twice about doing so, pleads Dave Pepler.