As a freelance journalist I found Deborah's letter about what she and Robin Singer did at Rickety Bridge a highlight and here is a bit more.
We
tried very hard to keep the feeling of a family working farmhouse,
vineyards and cellar - in fact when people came to the tasting rooms
we built onto the end of the old cellar, they all said how different it was
from the other farms - more like France in feel. I suppose you could look at
that in several ways - Franschhoek being so proud of its French heritage should
have given that impression, even if we were trying to promote South African
wine in its own right, but Rickety Bridge was the last of those small working
farmhouse and cellar farms, and a little gem, so I am not altogether happy with
the huge amount of development which has robbed it of that distinction, and
lost forever that feeling which made it so very special.
We
were so lucky in the people who helped us. Len Raymond, our builder, was a
complete Cape Dutch fanatic, and his knowledge of the history and construction
of these wonderful houses was a huge factor in lots of what we did. Rowan Pape
was a marvellous architect with a real understanding of what would and
would not work and given the passion which every one of us approached the
project, how could we lose? I was very sad to have to leave it. -
especially to the ravages of conference-centre builders! Those places are two a
penny in and around Franschhoek. Small is beautiful more often than we realise,
and Rickety Bridge was unique.
Whether one agrees with Debs or not, progress marches on and business is business.
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