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Weekend Getaway: A historic homestead in George
Sunday Times Live April 2012 Article by Paul Ash: Lord of the manor in a rambling Cape-Georgian mansion Paul Ash plays lord of the manor in a rambling Cape-Georgian mansion I’M tired of boxy hotels, and I’ve had enough of drek little B&Bs owned by poxy, unhelpful pinch-faced landlords and stuffed with décor from hell. There, I’ve said it. Running a B&B should require a licence, where applicants are subjected to the same vigorous scrutiny as those who wish to own automatic weapons. Sadly, that is not the...
read moreHistory of the house and it’s people
The grounds on which Fairview stand was first registered in 1861 in the names of Messrs. Swemmer and Meyer, directors of the first bank in George. When these two gentlemen found themselves in financial difficulty in 1894, they sold the farm to Koos and Miems Stander. They had sold their farm at Victoria Heights so that their 8 children could go to school from home.In March 2008 we had as guest the granddaughter of one of the Stander daughters She sent me a poem written by her grand- mother . On weekends the daughters would...
read moreMy favourite baked cheese cake recipe
Secrets first: we cook apple slices in a small quantity of water with one heaped teaspoon of sugar. These apple slices go into the bottom of the cake tin. This is how Probst Bakery used to do it in Walvis Bay and the Benkies love cheese cake this way. Bake a day before you want to serve it to allow the flavour and texture to develop. Geheime eerste: ons kook appelskywe (so 2 appels) in bietjie water met 1 opgehoopte teelepel suiker in en sit dit onder in die koekpan. Dis soos Probst Bakkery in Walvis dit maak by en vir die Benkies net ‘n...
read moreBreakfast treats: Potato waffles
POTATO WAFFLES 500ml Mashed potato; Little butter; Salt and Pepper; 125ml Flour; 2.5ml Baking powder. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Cook waffles on waffle iron until golden and crisp. Cut into wedges. BUTTERMILK WAFFLES 2 Cups self raising flour; 1 Teaspoon bicarbonate of soda; 2 Teaspoons sugar; Pinch salt; 2 Eggs; 90g Butter; ¼ Cup buttermilk. Sift self raising Flour, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and pinch of salt. Whisk the eggs and add the melted butter gradually mix until smooth. Add the buttermilk. Make a well in the center...
read moreTalking point: Hopping along the Hop Route
We hosted a Travel journalist forum a month ago – 16 journalist came to George to see what the Outeniqua Hop Route was all about and the following article appeared in Tourism News. “Beer is made of barley and hops. But why is a hop called a hop? No-one on the Hop Route in George was able to tell me, and even a dictionary of etymology (the history of words, Miranda) was tantalisingly vague. Seeing that hops were first grown about a thousand years ago in the area of Europe now called Bavaria, it is likely that it comes from a...
read moreStander House/Fairview up for auction in 1978; 2 years after Mr Swallows bought the historic home from the estate of Blanche and Ethel Stander
Blanche in the light coloured dress with her sister Ethel Stander. In The Oudshoorn Courant and Het Suid-Western on Wednesday September 27, 1978 Brenda Hartdegen reported: GEORGE: A magnificent leather-bound 260-year-old Bible was sold for R535 after brisk bidding at an auction of mostly antique furniture. The Bible was bought by a Cape Town dealer, Mr H A Lammers , who flew to George especially to attend the sale. And he is confident that he will sell it immediately to one of several Dutch dealers who are out in South Africa from Holland to...
read moreYear end garden project December 2010
Gert and Johannes earning some holiday money by doing the edging for us – the building industry closed early this year and they were very glad about this ‘stukwerk’. We were so impressed with their craftsmanship.
read moreFirst impressions: Food Presentation
My daughter is a food stylist and opened my eyes to the importance of food presentation. We eat with our eyes before we taste with our mouths… A few rules: • Garnishes should be edible. Yes, that goes for flower and / or leaves too… • Keep it simple : if you have tomatoes and fresh herbs providing color , it is really unnecessary to add a circle of orange with a sprig of parsley too. • Yes, definitely lose the sprig of parsley on the orange or tomato slice! • Leave a clean rim on the plate: a rim full of sprinkled paprika or finely...
read moreSouth African Garden And Home, October 1998. Romancing an era – a long neglected historic George House gets a make-over…
(Text and photographs by Alex Cremer) Because it was partly hidden behind high boundary walls, the true beauty of Fairview only became obvious once I drove through the new gates. Then the regal proportions and straight-lined design of the double storey dwelling, built around 1865, could be properly viewed. To me, the old place had a rather Georgian flavour that was further enhanced by the symmetry of the quite formal front garden, or perhaps I simply sought a scenario where traditional European elegance blended with the typical colonial style...
read moreDie Geskiedenis van Fairview. George Herald 26 Feb.1998 (Pauline Lourens)
George wat nie veel geskiedkundige argitektuur het om mee te spog nie, kan gelukkig nou tog groots wees op die Kaapse Georgiaanse styl woning, Fairview wat met groot sorg en toewyding gerestoureer is deur die huidige eienaars, Mev Philda en Dr Desmond Benkenstein. Alhowel reeds in 1841 tot stand gekom het, is meeste van die dorp se karaktervolle en geskiedkundige huise gesloop. Fairview wat terugdateer na 1861, dien vandag as ‘n gesinswoning en as smaakvolle ingerigte gastehuis. Die gasteboek getuig daarvan dat toeriste vanoor die...
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