My bolt-hole in the Cape

Your photos and comments make this old Ikey wistfully nostalgic and enjoyably melancholic. I had an old school friend who lived in an old white-washed house on Dorp Street in Stellenbosch and as a schoolboy spent a few days one winter with him there. I have never forgotten it. Russet oak leaves on the wet street outside and deep honey floors of yellow wood inside. Golden days.

Winter in the Western Cape sounds like summer in Britain.

Who is she?

Congratulations, Mr Cusack, lovely lady.

It’s still not Steprock…

True.

Truly lovely shack.

As a side note, someone should make a case study of the Dutch penchant for Mediterranean weather (or, say, ‘post-Dutch’, namely, the Afrikaners).

Or, in the case of the Afrikaners, is it actually mining?

I forgot where I read that, but a simple google search will confirm that large blocks of the Afrikaner community are moving to…Perth, in Australia.

On the face of it, it looks like an odd choice, but you have to delve just a bit to realise that Perth is a similarly New World, Mediterranean-out-of-the-Mediterranean (weather-wise) region, with lots of mining around. All sheltered by a basically anglo-protestant community.

Is this the right ‘milieu’ for the Afrikaner soul?

As for the Dutch-proper, I see them every summer flocking in large numbers around my hometown in the Mediterranean-proper. Every year flights leave back to Amsterdam with a few missed Dutch who stay under the sun.
I guess the vicinity of the Netherlands and the various daily flight options make it impossible to create a distinct, say, ‘Alikanter’ thriving and entrepreneurial sub-Dutch population. Or maybe is the absence of mining or of a ruling anglo-protestant elite.

It would have been cool, though.

Not only Afrikaners are moving to Australia, but many other Caucasian South Africans, and it has been going on for a long time. I think Australia is seen as similar to South Africa in many ways, weather only one.

Your winter sounds a lot like San Francisco. Don’t know if I would like not having any modern heating, but I loved the images of your back garden, it seems so peaceful.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Maureen

Another wonderul post Mr. Cusack, indeed the Cape ( Stellenboch being the second oldest establishment) is wonderful. Might I ask, have you been to the Catholic Church in Stellenbosch? The resident parish priest is a good friend of mine. A wonderful man, an extraordinary priest!

Please would you be so kind as to inform us as to any further posts about this wonderful country of ours, even though I hail from dusty Johannesburg, reading your articles always proves to be a heartwarming experience.

Hoping that all is well, God Bless and Many Thanks!