What we found: A rundown farm
In the last post we described how it came to be that we made the crazy move from Observatory to this farm in the Swartland.
Today’s post deals with what we found when we arrived, and some of the immediate challenges that awaited us.
Settling into the house
First off we had to arrange ourselves in the dismal huge house with a few sticks of furniture from our Observatory home. We did laugh – by the time we had distributed our meagre possessions, some rooms had no furniture at all.
Farmhouse
Farmhouse
Farmhouse Bathroom
Farmhouse Lounge Then
Farmhouse Lounge Today
But it was not just in the house that was run down – everywhere was broken down.
Old Cellar
Owl Cottage
Pavilion
De Perdestal
Endless Rubbish
Apart from dilapidated buildings, the farm was literally overflowing with decades of rubbish – including old washing machines in the mountain ravines. Even now we dig a hole somewhere and come upon rusted tins and old tyres.
So the first months were spent picking up and digging up rubbish and driving it to the dump. We took an incredible 200 tonnes of the stuff to the Malmesbury site in the first three months. That’s a lot of rubbish.
Rubbish on Farm
Endless Rubbish
200 tonnes of the stuff