Dear reader

The magazine you’re holding in your hands is an historic one. This is the last monthly issue of Home; from now on, South Africa’s No. 1 home and garden magazine will only be published eight times a year.

While I write this with a heavy heart, I’m still full of hope and have plenty of plans up my sleeve. Because I’m a glass-half-full type of person. I’d rather be part of the solution than part of the problem. And as much as our enthusiastic, creative and hard-working team would have liked to continue putting together 12 monthly issues of this beautiful magazine each year, the Covid-19 pandemic has also hit us hard. Like so many other magazines.

The good news is: it’s far from over! And in addition to these eight issues per year, we will still produce our special editions to inspire you in-between.

Home Yard is currently on shelf, we’re already working on our annual Home Renovations issue, and there’s a stunning Garden Notebook in the pipeline again. In the new year, other exciting projects await – I’ll tell you more about those later... What does all of this mean for you as a valued reader? First of all: you’ll have to wait a little longer for the latest issue of Home, which will from now on be on the shelves every six weeks (only the holiday edition over December and January will be on sale for eight weeks).

Secondly: a small price increase; but not like the one we had in June. Give me a moment to provide some context here...

In the six years that I’ve been the editor, I’ve never been in such deep trouble as I was in June. The jump to R75 was part of a broader strategy that very clearly did not go down well with Home readers.

The idea was to include something extra with the magazine (a mask in our case) and then increase the price – just for that issue. But we didn’t explain it clearly enough and I got a lot of flak on Facebook and in my inbox. Someone even called me a skelm. Ouch.

Hence the following: if anyone still believes we’re simply pushing up the price because we’re greedy and just want to make more money out of readers, think again. A radical decision like the one we’ve just had to make, which included three of our team members losing their jobs, is surely enough proof that times are hard and that we have to push in a new direction. So, please, understand that the new price of R65 per issue is the proverbial ‘sweet spot’ that ensures Home can still be part of the South African magazine landscape for years to come, albeit less frequently.

The simple truth is a magazine printed on good quality paper, featuring photos taken of homes all over South Africa by professional photographers (flights, vehicle hire, petrol, accommodation…), styled by our creative editor with stories produced by top writers – all published in English and Afrikaans – costs a lot of money to put together.

I’m thrilled it’s spring because this season brings with it new growth. And a time of crisis such as our world is experiencing currently is fertile ground for creativity.

I invite you to walk this road with us. We’re ready – and, as always, we are here for you.