Meet your hosts

Philda is responsible for the running of the Guest House – assisted by Elize (who can also speak German, Dutch and French) and housekeepers, Eveline and Monica. Desmond is a gardener and plant collector – even when we lived on the edge of the Namib desert he had a container garden where the plants were fussed over and pampered to thrive under those harsh conditions. He works as a medical doctor and enjoys the physical aspect of gardening – joking that he’ll join the gym and start golf when he retires from gardening. Before he started the garden at Fairview he used to enjoy painting and sculpting, but now all the creativity is plowed into this labor of love.

We both love traveling and hiking – apart from the numerous South African hiking trails, we have walked the Camino to Santiago across Portugal,Spain and France.  It does not matter where our annual holidays are – there will always be at least hike fitted in and one garden on the ‘must see’ list.

Our 3 adult children are married and live in Cape Town.

Apart from her passion for languages, Elize also enjoys dabbling in the creative arts of writing and acting. Her career path lead her from teaching to the theatre and later into the field of tourism.   Entering the hospitality industry was a natural progression.

Both Eveline and Monica have been members of our staff for quite a few years. Monica is originally from Queenstown  in the Eastern Cape, but have now settled here in the heart of the Garden Route where their children now attend local schools. Eveline as the senior member of our housekeeping staff has built up quite a reputation for herself as having a flair for creating beautiful posies to welcome quests to our home.   She also does not shy away from lending a hand in the kitchen at breakfast time.