STORY OF AN AFRICAN FARM
Karoo farmhouse rediscovers its noble past and embraces its future
It is impossible to walk through the cool sandstone rooms of Thorn springs, gazing out across the open Karoo plains that completely surround it, and not consider the enormity of time. It’s everywhere in these parts; it pools in the deep mountain valleys and it trickles through the dry plains. The straw-toned grasses whisper of forgotten history as do the ancient, creaking trees. Many lives have passed through this quintessential homestead that for over a century has stood firm
in the lee of the mountains where the san people roamed.
The original farmhouse, which today neighbours Thorn springs (the farm was subdivided into three smaller pieces of land), was an ambitious commission by an english emigrant, one of the once proud ostrich barons. By 1898, thanks to seven profligate sons and the collapse of the feather trade, the englishman was forced to sell the homestead. The farm would come to belong to robert struben, a gift from his father Fred struben, one half of the prospecting brothers who first discovered gold on the Witwatersrand. Yet even the great wealth of the randlords wasn’t enough to sustain the farm and, through the gradual attrition of the unrelenting Karoo landscape, the once noble host to high society fell from grace.
over the next century the farm would pass between homeowners, be dissolved into the three smaller estates and eventually (in 1905) see the development of Thorn springs, on what had originally been grazing fields, various dams and reservoirs and a small collection of buildings.
‘It was by chance that we were passing through the area and decided to visit Thorn springs, which had recently gone up for sale again,’ explains the current homeowner. ‘We’d been told that it was exceptional – and it truly was – but the layout was completely nonsensical. It would need a full and carefully considered restoration.’
Though much of the original sandstone structure remained, the home had over the years been subjected to numerous alterations, renovations, additions and a prolonged stint of neglect that left it feeling decidedly outdated. ‘The design borrowed many elements from sir herbert Baker, who had been the architect of the original farmhouse building,’ explains the homeowner. ‘although Thorn springs was in more of a ranch style, with its chunky columns and pokey verandahs, that didn’t work for our present-day needs.’ so began the two-year-long restoration: the verandahs were unified and extended, two additional nibs were added to the back of the house and the entire layout was rationalised. ‘rooms are now accessible from the outside while the internal spaces are public,’ he says. When it came to decorating the space, the homeowners relied heavily on their already extensive collection of art and furniture. ‘We spent a week putting it all in place. It required a bit of editing but the classic wooden pieces really lend themselves to this aesthetic,’ he explains. There certainly are elements that resonate with the Karoo way of life, the humbleness of the craft and the honesty to the material, but don’t be surprised when you find wildly contrasted pieces in this setting, too. There’s a real mishmash of things here, from Carl Walter Meyer landscapes and Brazilian mid-century pieces to
family heirloom antiques and even a photograph of Princess alice who visited the farm in its halcyon years. In a way it makes sense, given Thorn springs’s own colourfully eclectic history. ‘It’s been a challenge but we really do love this place,’ says the homeowner. ‘I think it really worked out well.’ and so the next chapter of Thorn springs is written.