AN ORIGINAL ECO-HOUSE
LOCATION
On a farm where the Sundays River flows through Pretoriuskloof which is off the N9 between Middelburg and Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape.
STYLE
The house, a traditional early 19th-century farmstead, has been beautifully restored but with a light touch. Built of mud and straw, these were the original eco-houses.
SERVICE
You are on your own out here — although there is a caretaker who lives in a cottage nearby. Everything from cutlery to linen to gas for cooking is provided.
AND THE FOOD
Take your own. There is a fully equipped kitchen with gas stove and fridge, and wood is provided for the braai and the fire around which you can sit and talk nonsense.
FACILITIES
There are three bedrooms — if you count the beds in the voorkamer — plus a bed in the restored ox-wagon in the waenhuis.
There are two bathrooms, with flushing toilets and plentiful hot water, which is heated by donkey boilers.
Lighting is by hurricane lamps, torchlight — or the moon and stars.
BEST TIME TO GO
I was last here for a weekend in January and, as a fellow traveller warned me at the time, “the heat will bite you on the ass”. Regrettably, he was right — it gets fearsomely hot down in the valley of the Sundays River. Late autumn or spring would be great and winter is probably sublime — mild during the day and suitably bracing at night.
ACTIVITIES
You have come here for the silence, the beautiful countryside and a few days of comfort. There is no landline, no internet and no cellphone reception. Bliss. Take a torch and walking shoes and books — especially the books. Pets are also welcome; things like quad bikes and loud music are not.
If you must get out, Nieu Bethesda is about an hour’s slow drive along scenic gravel roads, and Graaff-Reinet with its good food and attractions is about 45 minutes down the N9.
RATES
R450 per person per night sharing for three or more guests, R700 pppn (two guests) and R1,400 pppn (one guest).
CONTACT
See letskraal.co.za.