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.
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.
Bu hikaye go! Platteland dergisinin Autumn 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye go! Platteland dergisinin Autumn 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
There are few secrets in Verlorenvallei
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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.
