Bustling craft stop growing in popularity
COUNTRY living is not for everyone – but for entrepreneurs Jerry and Pat Day, it’s their dream come true. Four years ago, the couple uprooted from Hillcrest, with Jerry leaving his day job as an insurance assessment manager, and rented a ramshackle property on the Tweedie Road outside Howick.
“My passion was metalwork, spray-painting and generally creating stuff,” said Jerry.
“I’d make things in my back yard and give them to friends. Pat was equally creative – candle making, pickling, creating small wooden boxes for cactuses. We enjoyed working together with our hands. So we thought: why not open a small shop on the premises and make a living from what we do and love?”
They planned to spend six months fixing the house and shop and see what destiny had in store. There’s nothing else in Tweedie, which is the start of the Midlands Meander route, apart from the popular Ismail Wholesalers, or “everything” shop and petrol station up the road. It was time to rejuvenate the road. And that they’ve done.
Today Tweedie Junction, as it’s been named, is a hive of activity. Not only did the Days establish themselves and their workshop outlet Serendipity Wrought Iron & Gift Shop as a “must-visit” destination on the Midlands Meander, but they went even bigger.
Last year they were approached by two locals looking for a site for a coffee shop. As it happened, the property was on the market.
After some negotiation, a partnership was formed and the property purchased.
“Our vision was to renovate the property,” said Pat, “And Jerry’s first project was to help build the coffee shop and a lovely deck.”
Full of Beans Café is now ownerrun by partner Debbie Seegers, helping to attract car loads of patrons to the complex, while additional renovations have transformed the old outbuildings into neat little shops.
“We chose our tenants carefully,” said Pat, “because we wanted the right mix of shops. I believe we have the perfect combination now.”
Indeed, Inkys Mosaic, a Pandora’s Box for crafters, is well known previously from The Junction at Nottingham Road and is constantly busy.
Two doors down, Dragonfire Beads is a massive drawcard. Using an age-old Murano glass crafting technique with an open-flame torch, bead maker Barbara Magrath attracts visitors from across the country in search of her glass beads.
Then there’s The Basket Case, glorious Madagascan basket weave products and some special clothing. Next door, Nature’s Essence can bring you to optimal health with the help of, among other things, soothing organic oils. The main shop on the road front is now occupied by Functional Footwear, a shoe manufacturer that has been taking care of South African soles for nearly three decades.
“It works well for us,” said the Days, who in four years have had only eight days off, four of them for funerals. “We could never take weekends off, and it was becoming a strain.” Serendipity is now open from Monday to Friday only. “We’re looking forward to having weekends off.”
Mondays are exceptionally busy at Tweedie Junction. “Lots of visitors are returning from the Berg or wherever they have been for the weekends, so they always stop in here. And overseas tourists are forever popping in,” said Pat.
Internet research describes Tweedie as “a train station in Howick”.
However, Tweedie or Tweedy is also a Scottish clan name, derived from the lands of Tweedie which were along the valley of the River Tweed in Peebleshire, Scottish border region.
“No one seems certain how this part of the Midlands got its name,” said the Days.
“On the title deeds, it is actually called Allerman’s Drift, but there is no information on that either.”
Whatever its origins, either way, this bustling centre has finally put Tweedie on the map.