The story of us

Johann was born and bred in the Southern Free-State, Edenburg to be precise. If you should swerve to miss the chicken crossing the N1 South, you could easily miss this small town, a 110km south of Bloemfontein. However, he spent happy years here, where most farmers have Merino sheep, play golf on Saturdays and go to church on Sundays.

After school he went to the University of the Free-State (UFS), completing his B.Proc (Legal) degree and doing his articles, eventually qualifying as an admitted attorney. Suffice to say, he earned a few nicknames at varsity, which some of his friends and peers call him to this day.

I, Antoné am the “laatlammetjie” of my family, born 13 years after my sister, in another small town, Warmbaths in the Northern Province, now known as Bela-Bela, in Limpopo, to a father who was a pharmacist and mother who was a nurse. After 12 carefree years in the Bushveld and completing matric, I attended the University of North-West, graduating with B.Iur. LL. B degrees. I went on to the School for Legal Training in Pretoria and was admitted as attorney there, completing my articles in Pretoria and Bela-Bela.

Forward to the Corporate World, where you not only write fees to make partners rich, but also have your own medical aid and pension. Our paths crossed eventually in Johannesburg, where we worked for the same insurance company: him in the Legal Department and me in Liability Claims. Johann was an MBA richer (University of Wales), and we both had papers from the school of Hard Knocks.

Johannesburg led to Bloemfontein and then Durban, where we raised our two boys and had our own laatlammetjie: a daughter named Emma. Johann entered the Sugar Industry that KwaZulu-Natal is so well known for, and I was blessed to raise our children. 

Then Covid came …

For many December holidays, we’ve had the privilege of visiting family with a holiday home in Onrus, Hermanus. During one stopover at friends farming on the Breede River, we fell in love with the sheer beauty of the Overberg. An estate agent showed us some of the guesthouses on offer at the time. We remained on the Notifications list and got all the e-mails as property became available.

During the dreaded pandemic, it not only became clear that our middle child faced a big challenge in not attending a mainstream school, in his mother tongue (Afrikaans), but more importantly, that remote work was a real possibility and you could actually have your office anywhere and still operate in a corporate environment.

We got a notification of a stunning guesthouse, on the market n Swellendam. We dreamt, we drooled, we made sums… time passed and puzzle pieces fell in place. We made an offer, subject to our house in Glenashley, Durban being sold…. and held our breaths (behind masks). And BOOM, an avalanche of events happened: our house sold in record time. We were on holiday in Kruger (permits and all), attending online funerals of loved ones, when riots broke out in KZN. Our friends discouraged us from coming back; no petrol, no food in the supermarkets, FEAR …

So, the kids and I got on the plane to Cape Town and our wonderful journey started in August 2021, when we had the honour of becoming the custodians of De Oude Pastorie Guesthouse in Swellendam.

Our lives changed dramatically; for the better!