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27 May

Posted at 13:40h in Uncategorized

  Joseph Baynes came out to South Africa as a Byrne Settler and eventually settled at Nel's Rust in 1856. As well as building up a large farming operation, he built a magnificent home on the farm. As Baynes left no heirs, the farm was left...

26 Apr

Posted at 10:31h in Uncategorized

Of all the images I took for the book Farmhouses of Old Natal (Otterley Press 2017), my favorite is that of Umvoti Villa Farm in the Umvoti (Greytown ) District. The farm which is owned by the Tarr family, is run by Linda and Dawie Pieterse,...

05 Apr

Posted at 13:51h in Uncategorized

Named the Church of Madonna delle Gracie (Our Lady of Mercy), the tiny church in Epworth, Pietermaritzburg, built by Italian prisoners of war can accommodate about 50 worshipers. I have been trying for a long time to get access to the Church and I got lucky...

05 Apr

Posted at 13:27h in Uncategorized

I have just posted up the Blarney Cottage album under - Galleries - Natal farms - Byrne - Blarney Cottage. The cottages are the original of those built by 1850 Byrne Settlers Sophie and Frederick McLeod in 1879. This posting however is an indictment of the...

30 Mar

Posted at 13:56h in Uncategorized

Montrose Farm was expropriated from the Lund family by the Nationalist Government in the 1970's with devastating consequences. The ANC led Government has just adopted a policy of Expropriation without Compensation, which will have much more devastating consequences if followed through. "The more things change...

29 Mar

Posted at 08:54h in Uncategorized

I recently was attending the Alan Paton Book Festival, at Eden Lassie wedding and Conference Centre, in the Tala Valley, where our book "Farmhouses of Old Natal" was being presented. Not having been there, it was good to visit another great functions venue, and meet the...

29 Mar

Posted at 08:20h in Uncategorized

Many of the traders of old are only now giving way to the new breed of traders. The home Villa San Souci, built in 1884 by John Harwin, was a relative of the founder of Greenacres & Harvey in Durban. John started his trading empire...

26 Mar

Posted at 15:35h in Uncategorized

Dargle farmhouse, originally a Boer farm named Buffelshoek was acquired by Thomas Fannin in the 1840, and is one of the older houses in the Dargle valley in the KZN midlands. The original house was replaced by the Dargle cottage which features in the album under...

24 Mar

Posted at 14:57h in Uncategorized

Kilgobbin Farm,with its gables looks like a church and in fact Kil means church and Gobbin, is the name of an Irish Saint. Kilgobbin was built in 1875 by Merydyth Fannin, son of Thomas Fannin who came out in the 1840's. Merydyth had made much...

07 Mar

Posted at 13:15h in Uncategorized

Cramond House, originally part of a 3063 acre farm, near Albert Falls, has been in the Mackenzie family since 1856. The present home was built in 1900 and retains much the same footprint. The farm is presently owned by Drummond and Bridget Mackenzie, and the house...