Picnics at Delta Solms

At the end of the woodland at Solms Delta winery and museum, the Berg River runs over its brown stones in dappled sunshine creating an ideal picnic area. In the glade between the river and the dam. When I visited, Delta can cope with supplying picnics for up to ten parties in the summer months, an ideal spot to relax and unwind with friends and family. 

www.solms-delta.co.za

Wild Boar

At Kersefontein the cottages are set up for self catering but when I was there, one of the highlights was dinner of wild boar served by Julian in the main house.The boar was, at that time, shot on the farm by Julian himself to protect his crops from too much damage. The normal food is good wholesome farm fare, the kind of thing a good trencherman would expect in the days of Queen Victoria. You might want to enjoy an aperitif or an after dinner brandy in the Slip Bar or just have a stroll along the banks of the Berg river, or, then again, you may be lucky enough to get Julian to entertain on the grand piano.

www.sullatoberdalton.com

A storehouse of history

Kersefontein is a national monument but is kept going like any farm. On the day I visited, I was lucky the mist hadn't lifted or Julian, the owner having served breakfast to his paying guests, would have  been off on the combine. Having nothing better to do, he showed my wife and me round the house. First the passage with the scull of what I assumed was some kind of large bush pig or other but turned out to be that of the last hippo shot in the Berg river. He showed us into the lounge with its grand piano and furniture from 1690 and the 18th century, all carefully looked after as family heirlooms. Among the many portraits is one of Esau Coetzee who served four generations of the Melcks and taught Julian to ride. The house is a veritable storehouse of history and we were lucky to see round it before the wheat dried enough for the combine.

www.sullatoberdalton.com

Kersefontein

Having finished with Rickety Bridge, I was scratching around in my files when I found a note on Kersefontein farm on the Berg river. I've checked and it is still owned by the Melcks and is still taking visitors. The old house was originally built in 1740 but was bought by Martin Melck in 1770. Martin had emigrated to the Cape in 1740   to work for the Dutch East India Company when jobs were scarce in his native Prussia. He worked on the silver mine scam at Stellenbosch for a while (I'll get to that another day) but did well and when he won a contract to supply meat to the Company, he bought Kersefontein. While the farm is now a National Monument, the present owner, Martin works it as a mixture of farm and cowboy ranch.

www.kersefontein.co.za