By Roxanne Reid
I hopped out of the car to open a gate and found sheep waiting to welcome us to their patch of Karoo. The wind whipped the sand across the gravel track. We turned a corner and the farmhouse appeared, a windmill standing near a giant pepper tree on the far side. We were at Bloemhof-Karoo guesthouse near Richmond in South Africa’s Northern Cape Karoo.
I hopped out of the car to open a gate and found sheep waiting to welcome us to their patch of Karoo. The wind whipped the sand across the gravel track. We turned a corner and the farmhouse appeared, a windmill standing near a giant pepper tree on the far side. We were at Bloemhof-Karoo guesthouse near Richmond in South Africa’s Northern Cape Karoo.
I went for the stoep like an alcoholic for gin. Wraparound Karoo stoeps are my thing; I can sit and watch the passing parade for hours. This one was about 3m wide, with couches, chairs, tables and rugs. Chickens patrolled, a trio of geese waddled past hollering to one another, and two springbok nibbled at the ground not far away. A black donkey hid behind an arched wall as the wind rattled the dry leaves and set two rocking chairs in ghostlike motion.
The house and its heritage
The original Bloemhof-Karoo farmhouse, which lies about 25km south of Richmond, was built in the 1880s, then enlarged in the 1930s, when Italian prisoners of war provided the muscle. The Viljoen family bought it in 1911 and sold to heart surgeon Professor Chris Barnard in 1987. ‘He used to visit whenever he could, and stocked the farmland with endangered exotic species like Arabian and scimitar oryx, even bison,’ current owner Jenny Pickard told me. The Pickard family bought the farm in 2001 and Jenny turned Bloemhof-Karoo into a guesthouse in 2014.
The original Bloemhof-Karoo farmhouse, which lies about 25km south of Richmond, was built in the 1880s, then enlarged in the 1930s, when Italian prisoners of war provided the muscle. The Viljoen family bought it in 1911 and sold to heart surgeon Professor Chris Barnard in 1987. ‘He used to visit whenever he could, and stocked the farmland with endangered exotic species like Arabian and scimitar oryx, even bison,’ current owner Jenny Pickard told me. The Pickard family bought the farm in 2001 and Jenny turned Bloemhof-Karoo into a guesthouse in 2014.
Inside is homely, with various places for different small groups to gather – a big sitting room, a smaller one, the stoep or under trees in the garden. There’s more than one dining room too. Since we had the house to ourselves for two days, we had one breakfast on the stoep, looking out at white-blossoming fruit trees, another in the enclosed sunroom next to the windmill, which we could hear creaking and groaning.
We enjoyed one dinner in the large formal dining room, all red cloths and candlelight, another in a smaller, more intimate space. There’s also a half-enclosed patio where you can braai or catch some sun.
There are three bedrooms in the main house – the Barnard Room, Aloe Room, and ours the Oxwagon Room, named for the wagon wheel embedded into the wall above the fireplace. There are also rooms in a shed at the back, one of them with four beds and therefore ideal for a family. My first choice would be the Oxwagon Room, if only because it opens directly onto that inviting stoep and for its big bathroom, complete with freestanding ball-and-claw bath and a modern shower.
Oxwagon Room
A gathering of wooden masks, charcoal drawings of a donkey cart and paintings of Karoo scenes hang on the walls, and there’s an old milk urn here or kitchen scale there as ornaments. A few stuffed heads of antelope rear from the walls, which aren’t my personal taste but don’t seem out of place here in the Karoo.
Shelves in the passage are packed with books about Karoo cooking, Karoo stories and Karoo history, with a showing by authors like Pauline Smith, Guy Butler, Thomas Pakenham, Deneys Reitz, Lawrence Green, Karel Schoeman and Gustav Preller.
Shelves in the passage are packed with books about Karoo cooking, Karoo stories and Karoo history, with a showing by authors like Pauline Smith, Guy Butler, Thomas Pakenham, Deneys Reitz, Lawrence Green, Karel Schoeman and Gustav Preller.
The food
Here in the Karoo, I’d expected the wraparound porch, the windmill, the sound of hens and sheep, a sprinkling of donkeys. What I hadn’t expected was to eat so well. Resident chef Martha Adolf is queen of the kitchen, turning out delicious dishes like tomato soup, venison pie, roast lamb, and malva pudding.
Here in the Karoo, I’d expected the wraparound porch, the windmill, the sound of hens and sheep, a sprinkling of donkeys. What I hadn’t expected was to eat so well. Resident chef Martha Adolf is queen of the kitchen, turning out delicious dishes like tomato soup, venison pie, roast lamb, and malva pudding.
Lunch one day was delicious ravioli with tomato sauce and lots of parmesan, with freshly baked roosterkoek which we’d been able to watch Zelda Swarts and Yolanda Plaat juggle from hand to hand on the open fire just beforehand, so they were still warm enough to melt butter. Teatime was a treat too, daintily set out and enjoyed on the stoep.
From left: Zelda Swaarts, Martha Adolf and Yolanda Plaat
Exploring the farm
We were stoep-sitting, listening to the sheep moaning in the distance, when farm manager Paul Adolf came rattling by in his bakkie. He asked if we wanted to tag along as he did his rounds. The sheep knew food was on its way and followed him as if he were the Pied Piper. There are also pigs, donkeys, horses, hens and geese on the farm.
We were stoep-sitting, listening to the sheep moaning in the distance, when farm manager Paul Adolf came rattling by in his bakkie. He asked if we wanted to tag along as he did his rounds. The sheep knew food was on its way and followed him as if he were the Pied Piper. There are also pigs, donkeys, horses, hens and geese on the farm.
Chores done, we asked Paul about the vegetable gardens, which are watered by leivore, a typically Karoo system in which water is pumped into a system of furrows to irrigate a large area in the most efficient way. ‘It takes one man about one-and-a-half hours to water everything,’ said Paul.
We saw beets, carrots and potato plants just poking their heads up above the soil, but depending on the time of year there may be spinach, pumpkin, butternut, watermelon and beans. There’s a small patch under shade-cloth where lettuce and herbs grow, the general idea being to be as sustainable as possible. All the veg are organic; Paul shook his head violently when I asked if he used fertiliser or pesticide.
We saw beets, carrots and potato plants just poking their heads up above the soil, but depending on the time of year there may be spinach, pumpkin, butternut, watermelon and beans. There’s a small patch under shade-cloth where lettuce and herbs grow, the general idea being to be as sustainable as possible. All the veg are organic; Paul shook his head violently when I asked if he used fertiliser or pesticide.
Later, he drove us up a rough and steep road to the top of a koppie behind the house to watch the sunset. We dubbed it Oom Paul’s Road, because he said he made it himself. From the top the scene was superb, a vista of endless layers of mountain covered in Karoo scrub, with plains of golden grasses, and a crimson and candyfloss sunset as the finale.
Given that it’s about halfway between Cape Town and Joburg – only 5km from the N1 but an entirely different world – Bloemhof-Karoo is great for a one-night stopover with a good dinner. But it would be a pity to miss out on watching the sunrise from the stoep or relaxing with a book or pair of binos after breakfast, so go all ‘slow travel’ and stay at least two nights if you can. Heck, bring the family and spend a week enjoying a farm holiday - there’s plenty to do.
10 things to do at Bloemhof-Karoo
There’s only so much time you can spend lazing around the fire in winter or sitting in the shade of the stoep in summer. Here are some things to keep you busy.
There’s only so much time you can spend lazing around the fire in winter or sitting in the shade of the stoep in summer. Here are some things to keep you busy.
- Help to feed farm animals like sheep, pigs, donkeys and horses. Great for the kids, who can tag along with farm staff.
- Enjoy the changing seasons. Take a cooling swim in an iron ‘dam’ behind the house on hot summer days, or enjoy a drink by the fireside on cold winter evenings.
- Bring your mountain bike to enjoy bouncing along the farm tracks.
- Ask the staff to take you (and the kids especially) on a donkey-cart ride around the farm. The donkeys, Krampie and Sheepie, will stand quietly for a photo then rattle off at a trot, kicking up dust as they go.
- Indulge in stargazing in the clean, clear Karoo air.
- Go for a game drive on the neighbouring private game reserve to see antelope like eland, hartebeest and gemsbok, as well as a motley crew of Karoo oddities like bison.
- Eat wholesome Karoo farm food, and lots of it.
- Go for a walk along a farm track, across the veld or to Kudu Rock for a view of the surrounding mountains.
- Listen to the wind in the trees, to the sound of farm animals like hens, geese and sheep.
- Visit the town of Richmond about 25km away to enjoy the coffee shops, restaurants, art gallery, bookshops and horse museum. Don’t forget the Boekbedonnerd book festival in October each year.
Note: I was a guest of Bloemhof-Karoo for two nights but was given free rein to write what I chose. I paid for all drinks and travel costs.
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Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without permission from roxannereid.co.za
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