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  • go: Platteland1 min read
    How About A Map?
    Thanks for your informative magazine, which I really love. I like travelling to interesting places and would really like it if you could include a map of South Africa on the inside of the cover for reference. One doesn’t always have a map handy. It c
    go: Platteland2 min read
    Heidelberg Awaits That One-tonner…
    When does a pumpkin become a tourist attraction? When the scales reach a ton! Every year, participants and spectators from all over the Garden Route, Boland and Overberg head for Heidelberg’s Giant Pumpkin Festival. Then it is time for the battle of
    go: Platteland3 min read
    A Rainy Day In Willowmore
    We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Willow-more in the winter of 2015 for an article that we published in that year’s Spring issue (#8). The town looked spick and span. We met interesting characters, like businessman Pepi van der Merwe, who had a h
    go: Platteland3 min read
    Rosendal… Forever In My Heart
    It has been six months since I returned to the USA, my home country – after 10 years in the little dorpie of Rosendal in the South African platteland. Where we live now, the roads are smooth and the electricity is always on, but there is a large hole
    go: Platteland2 min read
    What Does Propery Cost?
    Everywhere in Orania, new streets are being constructed for various upcoming developments. To us, it seems as if the plots and houses are getting smaller and the prices are rising, especially for the platteland. There is clearly enough activity in th
    go: Platteland8 min read
    Valley Of The Rising Sun
    Driving along the R536 between Sabie and Hazy-view, you’ll be struck by the names of the farms and businesses that are like character sketches of the area: Bushbaby Valley Lodge, Mahogany Hill Cottage, Mountain Creek Lodge and Aan De Vliet Resort (me
    go: Platteland5 min read
    From The Earth
    “Building by hand and foot, using a mix of clay, sand, straw and water, must be as old as human civilization itself,” says Ross Dwyer, as he adds another chunk of wood to the fire crackling inside the curvaceous cob oven he built 14 years ago. “I had
    go: Platteland7 min read
    The Cats ‘go To Town’!
    The story of Nebukatneser is not just any old tale about a cat. It is a story about the fierce fighting spirit of a truly feral animal and her ultimate acceptance of living with humans. It is also a story about the incredible patience and ingenuity o
    go: Platteland2 min read
    Klein River Punches Above Its Weight
    At the annual World Cheese Awards presented by the British Guild of Fine Foods, Klein River’s Overberg cheese won a gold medal – one of only three South African cheeses to have pulled off this achievement. This is the latest in a string of accolades
    go: Platteland7 min read
    Meet The People
    Ludwig and Retha Everson began building their Aardskip house in 2009. Tucked away in Robyn Street on a hill, it is a practical expression of their desire to live in harmony with nature in a way that is as environmentally friendly, self-sustainable an
    go: Platteland1 min read
    To Start All Over
    In July 2022, all our possessions were stolen from storage in Westmead, Pinetown, during the looting in KwaZulu-Natal. We literally had to start over, but thank goodness for insurance. We have now built a new house at the retirement village in Paulpi
    go: Platteland10 min read
    For The Love Of Steam
    Next to a gravel road somewhere between Belmont and Douglas stands a man, soot-blackened hands cupped behind his ears, blue eyes fixed on great billows of smoke and steam in the winter air. Peter Odell – known to his British friends as Bedford – bli
    go: Platteland2 min read
    Let’s Go To Town
    Bird feeder DIY kit with all the parts, tools and instructions (completed bird feeder 256 mm x 286 mm x 140 mm) R500 Gardening Gone Wild gardeninggonewild.co.za Ceramic rabbit figurine (±65mm tall) R60 Lopsi Potsy Lopsi Potsy lopsipotsy@gmail.com Han
    go: Platteland5 min read
    Healthy Haven
    Much like we take care of our own personal hygiene by following routines and rituals, so too do we need to maintain and care for our gardens. The type of hygienic strategies that are needed to cultivate a healthy haven will depend on the requirements
    go: Platteland5 min read
    Eat, Drink, Have Fun!
    For a town of this size, there are surprisingly many developments, interesting initiatives, monuments and other attractions of which you will likely be unaware if you drive through the streets yourself or stop for a coffee. Rather take a free guided
    go: Platteland1 min read
    No More Blasphemy, Please
    We live in the platteland of Mpumalanga. We frequently buy your magazine and really enjoy the articles. In particular, the interviews conducted with the residents of a particular place are very good – they inspire one to take a drive and get to know
    go: Platteland2 min read
    Eat, Drink, Have Fun!
    This rustic watering hole on the R536 is popular among the locals. A marquee tent is fixed to a bar and kitchen, offering a laid-back vibe with good, hearty food. The name “Tanks” does not refer to the owner’s name, as many visitors may think, but th
    go: Platteland5 min read
    Crossed Wires
    I have never trusted that desolate time between two and four in the morning – the deep, pitchblack night. A time when it feels as if nothing on earth could possibly be awake; even the stones and flies and mosquitoes are asleep. (Oh, alright, this doe
    go: Platteland1 min read
    Silence in Stellies
    – Dalsig, Stellenbosch – Years ago, when I studied in Stellenbosch, it was a true student town. People walked everywhere and there weren’t all the cars and terrible traffic jams that are common these days. Now, you can hardly move on the pavements fo
    go: Platteland2 min read
    Let’s Watch… And Learn
    More or less slap-bang in the centre of the country, where the Orange River cuts a broad, mighty swathe through the arid Northern Cape Karoo, lies a town with a peculiar fate: Most South Africans have never been there, or have no desire to ever set f
    go: Platteland6 min read
    Let’s Go Into the Garden
    The world loves South Africa’s unique fynbos. In October 2023 alone, more than 1 000 tons – that’s 1 million kilograms – of these endemic flowers were exported to other countries. “It’s the most fynbos that South Africa has ever exported in one month
    go: Platteland1 min read
    Go! Platteland
    EDITORS JOHAN VAN ZYL & PETER VAN NOORD helloplatteland@gmail.com ART DIRECTOR SEAN ROBERTSON COPY EDITOR WENDY MARITZ PROOFREADER BARBARA MALAISÉ SOCIAL MEDIA VILIEN COETZEE CEO: MEDIA24 ISHMET DAVIDSON GENERAL QUERIES YUMNA TOFEY yumna.tofey@media
    go: Platteland5 min read
    Meet The People
    On the same gravel road that leads to Bambuu Lakeside Lodge, you’ll find this guest farm and event venue that was built and decorated by Lourina Coetzee. Her grandparents bought the property in the 1950s, but they never lived on the farm permanently.
    go: Platteland4 min read
    For Your Diary*
    SPIER, STELLENBOSCH 1 March–1 April This festival of light and sound runs for a full month, and you can enjoy it free of charge to boot. Get there by dusk to watch the farm light up as the sun sets. And why not also pop in at the farm’s art gallery,
    go: Platteland2 min readDiet & Nutrition
    Raise Your Glass To Our Beer Of The Year!
    The FES – or Foreign Exchange Student – is a strong, dark and singular beer. It is very rich and somewhat sweet, almost like a port. And now the South African National Beer Trophy has selected this showstopper as the best beer in the country from mor
    go: Platteland9 min read
    – ORANIA – Great White Hope?
    Every year when global market research specialist Ipsos releases the lists of the world’s top concerns, South Africa finds itself in the forefront alongside the other pessimists. The nerves of our nearly 62million souls at the southern tip of Africa
    go: Platteland8 min read
    Karoo Gold For Your Skin
    In the old shearing shed on the farm Kruidfontein, Leon Stegmann, a fifth-generation merino farmer, spreads open a merino fleece and holds it out. “Have you ever touched a sheep shearer or a wool classer’s hands and felt how soft they are?” he and hi

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