Whipstock Guest Farm

Oh! I just don’t know where to begin! Jess and I said about a million times over the past two days: “Remember this for the blog!” and now it’s time. So here goes. It’s a long one!

We left for Whipstock on Saturday morning around noon. We drove through lovely scenery (some of it was the same that I saw on the way to my safari so I was able to say to Jess… “oh, yes…those mountains had snow on them the other day too!”) and of course we had no problem talking for the two hours it took to drive to Whipstock Guest Farm. Conor and Brian had to stay home since Conor was still not feeling well. That was really sad and we were sorry they missed our farm adventure.

I noticed on the drive that life in the country seems a little more equitable than in the city. People of all colors live in similar conditions and crime seems to be much lower than in the city. We drove through a couple of really cute towns on our way to Whipstock and followed our directions carefully and arrived without incident (we did, however have to drive on a dirt road for quite a ways).

Once there we were welcomed quite cordially by Fanie (Fah-nee) and Amanda and shown to our unit. We stayed in the unit called “The Barn” which used to be a chicken coop. It did not feel like a chicken coop, except for the Indian Myna baby birds that were living in our ceiling. We met Mary the lamb who still gets a bottle a night and is very loud and happy to follow you everywhere and Joseph the dog (big St. Bernard) who was very quiet and happy to follow you everywhere.

We unpacked and freshened up a bit and then got back into the car and drove to one of the little towns (McGregor for you atlas people) where we had a lovely lunch (really good and under-budget!) on an outdoor patio and then poked around the town a little. We found a great shop where I bought a 22R piece of pottery (about $3.00) a wooden spoon with an elephant on it for my Samantha doll (yes people…I do love the American Girls!) and a bunch of rooibos tea soap (rooibus is native to South Africa).

We then followed our instincts and a sign that said Pottery→. We found a wonderful Pottery shop ran by Paul de Jongh and his wife Nina Shand called Mill Stone Pottery. Potter Paul was right there working in his very clean combination workshop and shop and was more than happy to teach us how to tell a real kiln-fired pot from an electric-kiln fired pot. He also shared a little bit of his philosophy of life with us (how we should all be able to roll out of bed, walk ten steps, and be at work doing something we love). His work was lovely and Jess bought two pieces…a bowl and a planter. I bought a miniature building (just about an inch across) that he said local women make from leftover clay and stick in the small nooks and crannies of the kiln. They sell them to raise money to take care of the local reservoir so all the neighborhood can enjoy the clean, fresh, mountain water.

After the pottery shop we headed back to Whipstock where we settled in, got our fire ready for the night (no heat in our unit and it probably got down to 40 degrees in the night) gathered more wood and took our books over to the “game room” where a Cape Town family was enjoying the ping-pong and a warm fire. We read for a little while and then both fell asleep. Whipstock has that effect on people! We awoke for dinner and joined the other guests in the dining room where we were served by Fanie and Daniella, the 6 year old daughter of the Cape Town family. The Capetonians had a bottle of wine that they shared with us and it went very well with our lamb shanks (the meat literally fell off the bone…I’ve only heard about that in books!), broccoli, butternut squash, rice, and good brown bread. We had ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. When it came time to clear the plates, Daniella came over to our table and Jess said to her (she’s 6, remember?) “Can you please tell Uncle Fanie that I’m finished with my dinner?” and Daniella replied in her English accent (because Jess still had a bite or two on her plate) “No you’re not!”

After dinner we cozied up in our PJ’s, lit our fire (with the fire starter that Daniella’s family gave us…people seemed to think that we were really roughing it since we didn’t have a man), and played a card game called Phase 10. I was kicking Jess’s you-know but then she came back and smeared me. Our fire got so hot that we had to move our chairs back like five times.

Before we went to bed, I stepped outside and saw some great stars. We had a ½ moon and I swear I think I saw one or two shooting stars because of the Perseids showers. If you are in the northern hemisphere (unlike me!), go outside on the 12th and watch for shooting stars. You won’t be disappointed! The funny thing was that the farm horses were in their pen not far from our unit and Joseph, the dog, would not let me walk out further than about 10 meters because he was protecting me from the horses! He stood in front of me and would not move and when I went inside he barked at the horses.

Jess and I hit the hay around 11:30. She kept an eye on the fire all night so we were cozy, but at 6:00 AM we had to go out again and get more wood. The wood was free and cut and dry so we didn’t mind at all. We slept some more and joined the other guests for a full English fry-up around 9:00 AM. After breakfast Fanie told us that we had beautiful accents. We’ve never heard that before so it was kind of a treat! Our morning consisted of walking around the farm with Joseph, paddling in their small lake (that was hilarious), visiting the farm animals (chickens, turkeys, rabbits, pigs, sheep, doves, and horses) and reading (sleeping) in the sun. Fanie even took us around to see the other units. Ours is the one with the green door. The free-standing cabin was build in the 1830’s and was the first structure on the place. Fanie also told us that the buildings were constructed from clay and plaster. They had bamboo type ceilings under roofs that used to be thatch. Whipstock was absolutely glorious in its simplicity, beauty, and hospitality. We were especially sad to leave Fanie because right before we left his pet bird escaped and was perched way up in a tree! But good-byes had to be said and so we drove away after promising to stop by the next time we are in the neighborhood.

We had lunch again in McGregor this time at a cute lunch/shop place called Deli Girls (bought some South African candles that were 20% off!) and then headed back to Cape Town. Deli Girls was awesome because we are pretty sure that the building was made using straw-bale construction! This is something I've heard of before and something that Fanie told us about. After spending an hour at the car wash (don’t ask) we were welcomed home by Conor and Brian who were excited to hear about our travels. And everything was fine until we got a phone call from Whipstock…the bird came back to Fanie, but guess who decided to stay at Whipstock? Button Cat! Don’t fret…they are fast-mailing him or her (I’m not really sure, to tell the truth) back to us.

So, we are tired tonight, as I’m sure you are from reading this long entry, but tomorrow my travels continue! I have the day in Cape Town on my own! I’m planning on doing some of the things described in the below links, but you know, I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow! Miss you all!

District 6 Museum
Red Bus Tours
The Castle
Gold Museum of Africa
Straw Bale Houses