2-50pm
In July 2006, Mike & I took Stacey and David to Montague for a short break. On the way home, we saw a sign to a (hedge) maze just outside Robertson. Thinking this would be something the children would enjoy, we followed the sign to a small-holding close to the road. There were met by an older man of Dutch origin. What his name was, I have no idea, but what followed was nothing less that strange! He began his tour by taking us into an unusual roofless rondavel like structure – on the round walls were child-like sketchings and he tried to entertain us by getting us to guess what was going on with each picture. He was a jolly fellow, but he made us feel pretty uncomfortable. What he was saying didn’t make too much sense. We were left with the feeling of being a bit ignorant – never a happy kind of feeling. After seeing the pictures, he led us through a garden filled with cacti, down to the maze. Again, it wasn’t straight forward, but rather tales of heroes and people we’d never heard of were explained. Eventually, he left us alone and we enjoyed working our way through the maze until we succeeded in finding our way to the end and out again. I took a photo of Stacey & David back to back and it became one of my favourite photos of them. We wandered back to the entrance and were keen to leave, but it was not to be. He concluded our tour by asking us to close our eyes and put out our hands. He had not endeared himself to us and not a single one of us were brave enough to close our eyes. All four kept our eyes open, but we did put out our hands! He put in some little knick-knack as a reminder of our visit. Let me tell you, we didn’t need the item. We would never forget this strange encounter of the weirdest kind.
Fast forward 8 years to Saturday 20th September 2014. Our friends planned a surprise night away. They told us to set aside the night, but we had no idea where were going. We headed along the N1 through the tunnel and stopped at the Van Loveren wine farm not too far from Robertson, where we had a leisurely lunch. Not long after our midday meal, we arrived at our destination….Mo & Rose at Soekershof…
Mike didn’t say anything initially, but he very quickly had a hint of recognition. I suspected nothing! We walked in and were shown to our suite. After putting our bags down, we walked to where our friends’ room was. Mike turned to me and said, ‘we’ve been here before.’ I said, ‘No we haven’t.’ Mike continued, ‘if not here, then next door.’ I looked at him and then looked around where I was standing and a dawning of familiarity came over me…..”OH MY WORD! Eccentric Dutch guy!” I thought. Saying nothing to our friends, I suggested a little walk and determinedly marched towards where we would have gone to get to the maze. But we hit a ‘no through road’ sign and turned off to where the swimming pool is. We sat and chatted and I told my friend the story of the maze. I told her what I recognised and as I did, I became more and more convinced that this was the place. Going back to our room, we read the brochure and to my amusement, saw the pictures that were in the rondavel 8 years ago…
The farm had become a sanctuary for cacti and the many we had seen 8 years ago were still there, only larger…the gardens had been developed by the new owners and are now absolutely spectacular…
It has been developed into a personal boutique guesthouse by the owners Axel and Monika. Our room is in one of the oldest buildings in the area. It’s a small lounge with mezzanine bedroom…
The bathroom is spacious and very tastefully modernized…
The bed is kingsize and very comfortable…
This is looking over the rail of the bedroom…
Bet if those beams could talk, they would have some stories to tell. The lounge from the staircase…
After an amazing dinner, we returned to our suite. We lit the fire and it warmed up the whole place. The bedroom above was so snug when we tucked ourselves in quite close to midnight on Saturday night. We had sucked the marrow out of the day.
This morning before breakfast, we decided to go and see if we could find the maze. It would mean ‘breaking the hotel rule’ and hopping over the ‘no entry’ sign. We were up to it! The maze has fallen into complete disrepair. Sadly, most of the trees have died and there’s very little left of it except the sign…
Most of the trees needed water and with it being scarce in the area, it would have been difficult to maintain unless it was financially viable. Our friends could have picked any one of hundreds of places in western part of the Western Cape. It was significant that we came back here. Why? I don’t know! It was such a weird experience 8 years ago, why would God want us to return here. The only thing I could think of is the faithfulness of God. No matter what happens, whether life gets weird or wonderful, hard or happy, uncertain or secure, there is one thing that will always be: Isaiah 54:10
For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but My steadfast love shall not depart from you, and My covenant of peace shall not be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.
And it was for that reminder, that I believe the Lord took us back to a place that had a very strange history for us. Things do change. Often times, they change for the better. This farm has certainly done that. God is faithful through it all.
We had a wonderful, leisurely breakfast this morning and then had a good drive home. Thank-you Friends for a wonderful weekend!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gratitude Pic…This morning, we had coffee on our stoep. I put the timer on the camera and when I do that, you never quite know what you’re going to get…this is what came out…happy times.
