Roxanne Reid - Africa Addict
  • Home
  • Book author
    • Travels in the Kalahari >
      • Photo gallery: Travels in the Kalahari
      • Book reviews: Travels in the Kalahari
    • A Walk in the Park >
      • Photo gallery: A Walk in the Park
      • Book reviews: A Walk in the Park
    • The Essential Guide to Self-Editing >
      • Book reviews: Essential Guide to Self-Editing
    • Betrayed
    • Book reviews online
  • Editing & proofreading
  • In the media
    • Travel features
    • Health features
    • Online media
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Links
  • Contact

Hantam Huis in Calvinia, Karoo – don’t hurry past

9/4/2014

0 Comments

 
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
By Roxanne Reid
Stand outside the grey-and-white limewashed building that is Hantam Huis in Calvinia, Karoo, and it’s as if you’ve dropped through a wormhole into the 1850s. Except for that plaque that declares it a National Monument. That wouldn’t have been there 160 years ago when it was first built. Don’t hurry past; stop and explore like we did.

Ouside the Hantam Huis a three-wheeler bicycle outside has a blackboard that lures us inside with its promise of moerkoffie, gemmerbier, melktert, pannekoek. What we find is a building that has been lovingly restored by Erwin and Alta Coetzee. They have an eye for Karoo classics, whether it’s authentic reed ceilings, handmade nails and bricks made of clay and straw, or period furniture, old tins and signs.

They also have a sense of humour, which becomes apparent when you wander around the interior – an eccentric but entirely appealing combination of working restaurant, museum and curio shop littered with memorabilia and oddities. 
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
The grey Hantam Huis building dates back to 1854. It and the gabled building on the left have been restored
Here, a muddle of naked celluloid dolls in a glass-fronted cabinet, engaged in Hieronymous Bosch-like shenanigans. There, a row of enamel cups, glass preserving jars and pots of gingham-topped jam, old tins that once held syrup, biscuits or tobacco, fly-swatters in fluorescent colours and a basket of ostrich eggs. 
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
Lace shelf liners, antiques and old-fashioned wall effects in one of the rooms that makes up the restaurant
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
A bedroom, complete with crib and commode, forms part of the museum-like interior of the Hantam Huis
A shop mannequin dressed in long-forgotten fashions for a trip onto the high street, an old wood-veneer radiogram the size of a small coffin, a wood-and-wicker wheelchair. A christening dress in a glass frame hung on a wall like a painting, an orange plastic elephant that doubles as a watering can, and a mannequin’s naked torso wearing a hat where the head should be. 

These are the sort of things you’ll share space with as you order coffee or breakfast. Or you could sit outside among the cobblestones, pot plants, herbs and watering cans that dot the small courtyard. Whichever you choose, you can be sure your experience will be out of the ordinary.
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
I couldn't help feeling that Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout would love to nick this woman's boa
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
More fashion and furniture from a bygone era, with the air conditioner a modern essential in the Karoo heat
The restaurant serves traditional breakfasts and boerekos like bobotie and bredie, as well as coffee, rooibos tea and cake. Not to mention the milk tart, ginger beer and pancakes announced by the bicycle blackboard outside. We had the chicken pie and salads, which didn't live up to the promise of its environment, but we were still glad we’d stopped to enjoy the quirkiness of the Hantam Huis. 
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
The shop displays an eclectic mix of decor items you don't know you need until you see them
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
You can buy rusks, nuts, olives, jams and preserves as a reminder of your short visit to the 19th century
Calvinia makes a good stopover point between Cape Town and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park or Augrabies Falls. If spending a night in a museum has always been on your bucket list, the Coetzees are the people to talk to because they own and let out a number of other restored properties in the dorp, each unique. 

You’ll get authentic restoration and period pieces to trick your senses into believing you’ve stepped into a previous century. No wonder the Coetzees snatched the Cape Times Centenary Medal for outstanding achievement in preserving Cape buildings in 1993. When you need the bathroom, however, you’ll be thrilled to discover that you’re still very much in the 21st century. 
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
The courtyard is is fresh and inviting for those who'd prefer to sit outside
Hantam Huis, Calvinia, Karoo
An authentic Karoo kitchen complete with wood stove, bakoond, coffee grinder, candle mould and washing board
Other attractions in and around Calvinia include the wildflower displays in spring, a museum housed in the old synagogue, dinosaur footprints, an annual meat festival at the end of August and the biggest red post box in the world (it started life as a water tank and yes, you can post a letter there, if anyone still does such things these days).

Like it? Pin this image!
Hantam Huis in Calvinia, Karoo - hotel, restaurant and museum in one #travel #SouthAfrica #Karoo
You may also enjoy
Williston Mall in the Karoo
The Tankwa Padstal in the Karoo

Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Get email links to the latest posts

    Buy my books
    Travels in the Kalahari, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2012​

    A Walk in the Park, amazon.com e-book
    2nd ed e-book 2015
    The Essential Guide to Self-Editing, amazon.com e-book
    E-book 2017

    About 

    I'm an independent travel writer and book editor with a passion for Africa - anything from African travel, people, safari and wildlife to adventure, heritage, road-tripping and slow travel.
    My travel buddy and husband Keith is the primary photographer for this blog.
    We're happiest in the middle of nowhere, meeting the locals, trying something new, or simply watching the grass grow.
    Use this website to discover new places to go, revisit places you've loved, or take a virtual tour of destinations you only dream about.

    Categories

    All
    Baviaanskloof
    Books
    Botswana
    Camping
    Cape Town
    Chobe
    Conservation
    Drc
    Eastern Cape
    Etosha Namibia
    Food
    Free State
    Garden Route
    Gauteng
    Issues
    Kalahari
    Karoo
    Kenya
    Kruger National Park
    Kwazulu Natal
    Lesotho
    Limpopo
    Linyanti
    Madagascar
    Malawi
    Mozambique
    Mpumalanga
    Namaqualand
    Namibia
    Nature Parks
    Northern Cape
    Okavango
    Overberg
    People
    Photography
    Richtersveld
    Tanzania
    West Coast
    Western Cape
    Wild Creatures
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010
    November 2009


Copyright © Roxanne Reid - No words or photographs on this site may be used without written permission from roxannereid.co.za

Privacy Policy, GDPR and POPIA compliance
​* We promise that we take data safety seriously and use your private data only to offer a personalised experience
* If you subscribed to our newsletter, you will receive our newsletters. You can always unsubscribe by following the link in email or by emailing us
* If you gave us your name, it will only be used to personalise the newsletters
* We have never sold, we are not selling, and we will not sell any of your personal data provided to us
* The blog uses cookies to track activity. It is anonymous except for telling us your location and what you did on our blog
​
Photos from berniedup, Lucy_Hill