Heritage accommodation in George, Garden Route, South Africa
The following article appeared in Tourism News.
“Beer is made of barley and hops. But why is a hop called a hop? No-one on the Hop Route in George was able to tell me, and even a dictionary of etymology (the history of words, Miranda) was tantalisingly vague. Seeing that hops were first grown about a thousand years ago in the area of Europe now called Bavaria, it is likely that it comes from a Teutonic word ‘hoop’ (heap) which indicates the way in which hops were left to dry.
Guests I’ll always remember?
Shortly after I opened doors I received a booking for three policeman to share the family room. Now that sounded a bit weird, but the agent confirmed: three gentlemen and they had to share a room and could I please confirm the private entrance and secure parking.
It was just getting dusk when my front door bell rang and there were the three policeman. Beach-bum impersonater smelling of beer, gangster wannabe’s as charming as can be and parked in my driveway – a dented rust tin of a Kombi van.
On my request to see some ID, the one chap flipped open his ID badge, but much too fast for me to really see whether it was authentic. He then explained that they had to share the room because they were here to assist the local police and that they were transporting ammunition that they were not allowed to leave in their vehicle. That just freaked me out! Here I had to watch three men store an arsenal of guns under my antique wrought iron and brass four poster bed.
When my husband returned from work, I related my story of woe. He took one look at the van with the tinted windows and declared: yes, tonight they are going to rob a bank and it will be all over the papers, ‘robbers stayed at four star guest house in George’.At that stage he was still not so convinced about this guest house thing that I wanted to try, so did not offer me too much in the line of sympathy.
I decided to phone the local police station to find out if they were expecting three policemen and couldn’t say that I was surprised that they were not. They kindly offered to send a patrol car around a few times in the night, but did not think it was wise to confront the men.
They had paid cash on arrival and were now officially paying guests.Thankfully I had no other guests to worry about and with hubby happily snoring away, I spent half the night peering into the parking lot to see if the kombi van was still there. The next morning my three bright eyed and bushy tailed policemen,once again in civilian dress, tucked away heartily into bacon and eggs, served them by a not-so bright eyed and bushy tailed hostess.
With great relief I saw them off. Within minutes I got a phone call from the local police station to say that I had nothing to fear – they were expecting three officers, but that the police station had not been notified in advance as it was an undercover operation.
When Desmond came home for lunch it was to find a note on the table telling him to make himself a sandwich and not to wake me up – I was making up for lost sleep!
George wat nie veel geskiedkundige argitektuur het om mee te spog nie, kan gelukkig nou tog groots wees op die Kaapse Georgiaanse styl woning, Fairview wat met groot sorg en toewyding gerestoureer is deur die huidige eienaars, Mev Philda en Dr Desmond Benkenstein.
Alhowel reeds in 1841 tot stand gekom het, is meeste van die dorp se karaktervolle en geskiedkundige huise gesloop. Fairview wat terugdateer na 1861, dien vandag as ‘n gesinswoning en as smaakvolle ingerigte gastehuis. Die gasteboek getuig daarvan dat toeriste vanoor die wêreld dit ‘n verruklike ondervinding gevind het om hier tuis te gaan.
Continue reading “Die Geskiedenis van Fairview. George Herald 26 Feb.1998 (Pauline Lourens)”
Weekend Getaway: A historic homestead in George. Sunday Times Live April 2012 Article by Paul Ash:
“I’M tired of boxy hotels, and I’ve had enough of drek little B&Bs owned by poxy, unhelpful pinch-faced landlords and stuffed with décor from hell. There, I’ve said it.
Running a B&B should require a licence, where applicants are subjected to the same vigorous scrutiny as those who wish to own automatic weapons. Sadly, that is not the case, which means I spend an inordinate amount of time sifting through the dross.
George, as you may well imagine, is overstocked with B&Bs. The town has more accommodation options than Jo’burg has Tuscan palazzos, so I was well pleased, on my very first troll of the web, to stumble across Fairview Homestead, a former farmhouse, built some time after 1864 and sold to one Koos Stander in 1894. The family farmed apples and cattle until 1974, fending off the urban creep. Today, the homestead is an island of beauty in the middle of George’s spreading metropolis.
I wanted, in short order, an airport pick-up, a good home-cooked dinner, a really decent bed – and character. Lots of character. Fairview has the latter in spades – you can see that from the website. But how about the airport pick-up – 20km is a long way to walk – and what about dinner?
The owners, Philda and Desmond Benkenstein, were away, and apart from their locum, Richard, who provided a cheerful airport taxi service, I had the place to myself, along with a Boxer puppy and a wandering cat. It’s not every day one can play lord of the manor in a rambling Cape-Georgian mansion, and roam the rose garden like it’s yours.
The Outeniqua mountains were lit by the last of the sun as the Boxer and I prowled the garden, crunching happily along the gravel paths, feeling the heat seep out of the day. I watched the mountain flanks turn red then fade into darkness as the night rose up; the Boxer uncovered a stiff, dead mole and its joy was unconfined.
Richard, meanwhile, made dinner. Bangers and mash with a salad sourced entirely from the garden. Fairview’s vegetable garden is famous. As he served dinner, Richard noted – with some regret, I felt – that the only things that didn’t come from the garden were the sausages and the bottle of red wine.
Eating food as fresh as that, there is a glorious stirring of the senses, and it is useful to be reminded of the fact that, once upon a time, we ate like that all the time and were probably better for it, despite constant anxiety about hungry sabre-tooth cats and competition from other gangs of foraging hominids . so no change there, then.
I retired to a Victorian bedroom with antique iron four-poster bed and chaise longue in front of the fireplace, a whirring fan by the bed and heavy wooden shutters to keep the night out, and slept the sleep of the just.
True to form – me wishing that perhaps the service wasn’t quite so, well, obliging – there was a gentle knock on the door before dawn. Time to go to Mossel Bay to catch a freight train. But that’s another story.
WHERE IT IS: On the eastern edge of George, 20km from the airport and 8km from Victoria Bay.
WHY GO THERE: The house is a classic Cape-Georgian mansion with a big enough rose garden for you to lose yourself in. Although the farm has been swallowed by development, the quiet and expansive grounds mean you are hardly aware that you are, in fact, in a sizeable town.
WHAT IT HAS: Two lovely big double rooms in the main house and an outside studio that also sleeps two. Breakfast is included and dinners are available on request. The famous garden – a good place to hide from the world for a while – is an attraction in its own right. Apart from the veggies, there is a formal lavender and rose garden and enough indigenous plants to keep local greenies happy.
WHAT IT’S LIKE: Impeccably clean, beautiful to look at, quiet and relaxing.
AND THE FOOD: Richard cooked an excellent dinner of bangers and mash. The salad ingredients had been growing minutes before reaching my plate. It really doesn’t get better than that.
RATES: Superior room starts at R440 per person sharing, R390 per person in the luxury double. Single rates start at R490. There is a discount for longer stays.
GETTING THERE: Turn left out of the airport, then first right onto the R102, the pretty little country road that will take you into George and right across the bottom. It’s much easier and nicer than using the N2.
CONTACT: 36 Stander Street, George, phone 082 226 9466, e-mail info@fairview.lithe.co.za, GPS co-ordinates -33.957083, 22.476804.
WHAT THERE IS TO SEE ON THE WAY:If you’re staying for a while, check out the Outeniqua Railway Museum (2 Mission Road, George, phone 0448018288, open Monday-Saturday). The museum houses a collection of restored steam locomotives – many in working condition – and railway coaches from the country’s golden age of rail travel. There is also a collection of historic vehicles, including a rare Brill SA Railways bus.
The museum is also the departure point for the Outeniqua Power Van, a converted railway inspection trolley, which runs up the beautiful Montagu railway pass that clambers over the Outeniqua mountains from George. The van makes day trips up the pass, stopping at various places for the passengers to alight and take in the view and learn something about the history of the pass. E-mail opv@mweb.co.za or phone 044 801 8239 for bookings.”
