Category: My Guest House Life

The grounds on which Fairview stands was first registered in 1864 in the names of Messrs. Swemmer and Meyer, directors of the first bank in George. When these two gentlemen found themselves in financial difficulty in 1894, they sold the farm to Koos and Miems Stander.

The Standers had sold their farm at Victoria Heights and bought Fairview so that their 8 children could go to school from home. In those days it was a big apple and cattle farm on the outskirts of George.

Two sons became attorneys, one son qualified in Scotland as a dentist and all 5 daughters qualified as teachers. To get to Wellington Teachers College the girls traveled by horse-drawn cart to Mossel Bay, from there by ship to Cape Town and then by train to Wellington! Koos Stander was Mayor of George from 1926 to 1932 and the house stayed in the Stander family from 1894 to 1974.

In those days it was a big apple and cattle farm on the outskirts of George; today it is centrally situated in the suburb of Bergsig and the grounds measure 3800m².

In 1994 we moved back to South Africa after a 13 year stay in Namibia. We bought Fairview and took up the challenge to restore this historic George landmark – always bearing in mind that the challenge in restoring and maintaining any old building remains staying true to the authenticity of the structure. We therefore removed a garage that altered the square Georgian shape of the original building. Eight windows had to be replaced and were meticulously duplicated using the old frames as templates. The time consuming restoration was contracted out to a specialist team and took nine months to complete. Waterproofing of the clay walls proved to be a major challenge, as was the stripping of the many layers of paint to expose the lovely wood again. All the plumbing and electric wiring had to be redone, the 4 chimneys and fireplaces needed radical repairs, and most of the light fittings were removed and had to be replaced with antique ones again.

Below are two very old photo’s showing that the house originally had a pitch roof on the front section. There is no record of when the facade was changed to that of the typical flat-roofed Cape Georgian style. As not even the 82 year old Stander granddaughter could remember this pitched roof, it was decided not to replace during the 1996 restoration.

In 2013 we embarked on yet another phase, this time renovation more than restoration. New garages were built for private use at the Smith Street entrance, a spiral staircase was added to the inner courtyard to give access to two upstairs guest rooms, the little storeroom below the swimming pool was restored and turned into a small guest room and 4 of the bedrooms were renovated and re-decorated.

The house is now fully restored to its long lost splendor and elegance and is listed with the National Monument’s Council as well as the local George Heritage Trust.

Desmond is passionate about his garden – work on the garden is an ongoing labor of love. The front garden is more formal in structure – in keeping with the formal Cape Georgian style of the house. The flowerbeds on the Eastern side of the house is more informal. At the back of the house we have fruit trees, a herb garden, vegetable garden and a small orchard. We also keep our own chickens to keep the kitchen in supply of fresh eggs.

 

When we lived in Namibia (1982 to 1995) no visit to the capital city of Windhoek was complete without a visit to  Weylandts.* As newlyweds, Desmond and I could only drool over the beautiful furniture and occasionally buy a small item. As we set up our first home in 1982 we bought second-hand furniture – often lovely (in those days unappreciated)  antique pieces. To my delight, I found that Weylandts had opened a store in Durbanville in 1999. The fact that our house had all the furniture it needed could not prevent me from browsing once more. And yes, there is a store less than 50km from Fairview – in Knysna. (Weylandts have about 6 stores throughout the country and have just opened the first store in Australia too.)

This year we are enlarging our Self Catering Annex to a two bedroom apartment with kitchen, laundry and lounge. And guess what? Yes, I am combining a few blond wood antiques with contemporary furniture from Weylandts to furnish it!

….for the bedroom or the lounge?

 

our daughter Nelleke having a bit of fun in the Weylandts Sea Point store

Luella and her Oupa chose two cane deck chairs – hulle slaap lekker!

 

*It’s probably worth mentioning that this is not a solicited review of Weylandts and I didn’t get any payment or discount in return for raving about their store – I just really like their furniture!

I sometimes have to remind myself that I cannot please all people all the time. Recently I made the mistake of upgrading guests who had booked one of our Standard rooms to a room which I consider a Superior room. The Standard room of their choice faces west and currently looks down onto a hub of activity  because of the renovation to our Annex ( which is thankfully on schedule and should be finished in less than 2 weeks.) So I thought I was doing them a favour by giving them a free upgrade to our Room 1 which faces towards the garden. Apparently, the guest walked into the room and exclaimed in disbelief that surely this could not be considered a luxury room.

Which has me confused. The guest who stayed in Room 1 the night before them wrote in our guest book: “thank you for a wonderful stay – incredible attention to detail”. The last TripAdvisor review was from a guest who stayed in Room 1 and reads: “My husband and I stayed at Philda and Desmond Benkenstein’s wonderful B&B for three nights. What a find! Breakfasts were outstanding, room more than comfortable and the hosting fantastic! There was an equal measure of privacy and the excellent company which made us feel very much at home. Desmond’s garden has been lovingly cared for and attracts a variety of bird-life. The attention to detail in the house is meticulous: I loved the silver coffee pots, decorative antique books, and modern bathroom; my husband enjoyed attention from Juno the dog. We can’t recommend this establishment enough … and look forward to another visit in the not-too-distant future!”

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