Stretch Your Legs at Biesiesvlei

In North West, on that long road between Gauteng and Namibia, lies Biesiesvlei. Blink and you might miss it. But a farm stall with a difference invites you to take a closer look.

- Peter Van Noord

One moment you think you’re in the middle of nowhere. Veld all around you. Maize fields. Here and there a copse of eucalyptus trees. Everything is dry. A ruin in the veld that was once a farmhouse. You’re still thinking about Coligny, about 50km behind you – is that where Hestrie (then Storbeck) Els’s future lay once upon a time?

On either side of the N14 you see the effect of the 2016 drought on the maize. Even the eucalyptus trees look a little dusty, windswept and thirsty. But there is a promise in the air: clouds are gathering dramatically in the sky. And yes, there’s a cloud with a silver lining. Is it your imagination, or is that the smell of rain blowing across the plains?

Then you reach a T-junction: to the left, the N14 goes to Sannieshof, Delareyville, Vryburg. To the Kalahari! To the right is the R52 that takes you to Lichtenburg.

You keep left on the N14. Just when you want to pick up speed, you spot the car wreck on the left, perched on a fence and on top of a bed of Namaqualand daisies, pointing to a beautiful building.