Author: Pieter Carstens It is grain harvest time in the Swartland and Willie Dreyer (owner of Leeuwenkuil), like many other farmers in the area, spend most of his day driving a combine harvester. If you want to visit him during this time, you need to drive deep into the beautiful Paardeberg area of the Swartland […]

The year 2020 will certainly be long remembered and written about in the history books. School children will learn about the world wide Covid-19 pandemic, it’s devastating effect on the economy, but also about the tenacity of people and how some searched and found opportunities amidst the crisis. The Lammershoek farming community is certainly one […]

Author Clifford Roberts; Photographer Johan Viljoen There’s plenty of modern-day evidence of the Swartland’s long history in wine grape farming. While some of oldest examples of locally farmed cultivars exist in the region, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that grape production rose to its current status as significant agricultural crop. Grain farming on the other […]

Over the past 79 years of winemaking in the Swartland region, ‘tenacity against the odds’ and ‘a boer maak ‘n plan’ attitude have rung true for Riebeek Valley Wine Co through war and peace, drought and flood and certainly during the COVID-19 pandemic. For Riebeek Valley Wine Co 2020 has been the year for re-evaluating, […]

23 September 2020 Author: Clifford Roberts; Photography: Johan Viljoen The Swartland is a champion of South Africa’s old vineyards. Local winemakers were among the first to recognise the importance of preserving them. From a visitor’s perspective, that’s just one of the more unusual ways to get to know the history of the region. Fascinating traces […]

Hofstraat cellar is a garagiste celllar owned by Wim Smit, the resident winemaker. He is a well known commercial builder in Malmesbury and the surrounding Swartland. He took his aesthetic perfection of building practices and directly applied it to his hobby, winemaking. Renosterbos wines has since being officially registered in 2002, won several prestigious award […]

Winter has draped her beautiful green and yellow cape over all of us in the Swartland.  The wheat fields are green and everywhere you look, the canola stands in bright yellow attire, smiling at one and all. For us as a family, this is an incredibly special time of the year. We welcome as much rain […]

Ask around for the sights of Piketberg and the ensuing pause in conversation will be palpable. You can excuse locals for being “sights-blind”. I live near the sea and don’t get to the beach nearly as often as a visitor might. But the thing about this little Swartland town on the shoulder of its eponymous […]

Photo: Rupert, one of our rescue donkeys, reckons there is plenty to be thankful for. Along with the rest of the world, our lives changed unexpectedly and abruptly when hard lockdown was announced. In a state of disbelief and shock we had to handle cancellations of weddings and events, make arrangements with guests who were […]