The advert read: #”wooden cabin on the mountainside … scenic views across a valley, next to hiking trails, cozy cabin for couple, etc, etc’ … The pics looked good; amazing view from the cabin. A shaded deck to sit on & chill! However we soon found out that life on a farm had its good points as well as some not so good ones. We soon discovered that #’The Windy City’ is not a misnomer or an exaggeration. Lady SlIpper Trail runs below a long hill running from the north westerly direction towards the south east, and the wind seems to funnel along the base of that slope like a typhoon, intent on obliterating everything in its path; especially us, as we cowered inside our tiny cabin for days, waiting for it to pass.
The farmer; our landlord; for some reason, periodically burns all the vegetation, ostensibly to destroy the alien vegetation and encourage the Fynbos. The result is that there is a layer of ash, above the topsoil all over the slope around our cabin. This turns to a slimy, treacherous mess that poses great discomfort and risk of accidents for the tenants in the cabins and any other unwary person who tries to walk on it.
Yes! – I did say ‘SLOPE’!. The cabin was built on a slope without any terracing whatsoever around the building. This means that anyone who tries to walk outside the cabin is forced to walk at a 30 degree angle. When you come back from a shopping trip you have to try and push the car door open with your foot; the car being at a 30 degree angle, in the face of the howling wind, thus in great danger of having your foot crushed by the car door. Enuff said about that!
On a more positive note, the Paul and Lucy at the Art Garage Restaurant on the farm serve an amazing breakfast. Everything is super fresh; the self service coffee is great and HOT! and Paul, the chef puts great effort into making sure that the food tastes great. The restaurant has a fantastic ‘farmhouse atmosphere with lots of art and tasty goodies on display.
I will continue the saga on the ups and downs of farm life in my next post.
Recent Comments