This is a rare opportunity to purchase Riversdale’s oldest historic farm – with beautifully restored Cape-Dutch heritage farmhouses dating from the 1700s – for sale in the heart of the Garden Route.

Lovingly restored, Zeekoegat is more than a picture-perfect rural idyll in the middle of the Garden Route. Dedicated conservation work means it is also an extraordinarily beautiful heritage estate with listed Cape-Dutch farmhouses surrounded by rich biodiversity. The current owners have poured their hearts into the restoration of the farm’s historic buildings and also into rewilding the extensive acreage to eradicate invasive aliens and reestablish its original biodiversity. The result is sheer bucolic bliss!

Between Swellendam and George and almost due north of Still Bay, Riversdale is an historic farming village tucked just off the Garden Route in the foothills of the Langeberg mountains in the Western Cape of South Africa. With the property for sale, there is now a rare opportunity for a new custodian to own this heritage farmstead that is even older than the farming town itself.

There is a tangible sense of history at Zeekoegat. The beautiful original Cape-Dutch farmstead is a listed national monument that dates back to 1746 – almost a century before the town of Riversdale itself was proclaimed in 1838 – although the date on the gable reads 1795. In its earliest days, the farm was an oasis for pioneers, with travellers replenishing here en-route inland via the Garcia Pass.

Its tradition of hospitality continues to this day: the listed national monument homestead now serves as a farm guesthouse, as do several other newer countryside cottages. These are spread out for privacy and seclusion, allowing for a marvellously tranquil farm-stay experience.

The family lives in the gorgeous main farmhouse, which was built in the early 1800s and has also been fully restored. “The sweeping staircase makes for quite a grand entrance,” says the owner. “This farmhouse originally served as a school. When we restored it we removed some of the ‘improvements’ that had been implemented in the 20th-century and restored the best of the original elements,” she explains. “Its floor-plan follows a traditional Cape-Dutch U-shape with a central courtyard. This has glorious mountain views so we’ve glassed it in to make the most of that.”

Back in the day the pride of Zeekoegat was its 50-metre-long shed built in 1803, South Africa’s first under-cover milking shed. The owner explains: “The story goes that the original farmer’s wife had a piano set up on the upstairs rafters so she could play for the cows! We’ve almost finished restoring it to serve as a wedding or events venue, with a honeymoon suite at one end.”

“But it’s been about restoring the land as well as the built environment,” she adds. “We’ve worked to bring back the farm’s biodiversity. A six-year project to eradicate invasive black wattle has been enormously successful. This allowed the natural palmiet vegetation to reestablish itself, which has restored the wetlands. It’s been a proper rewilding project. Our conservation research cameras have picked up otters, caracals, porcupines, honey badgers, aardvarks, civet cats, bushbuck and vervet monkeys. The birdlife is also prolific now – we even have an enormous nest of hamerkops outside the kitchen.”

“This is a place that reflects an enormous amount of love because we adore everything that’s around, and we’re passionate about animals. We try to let everything live as it should – we fence in the garden rather than our four pigs, which roam free,” says the owner. “We have exceptional water rights from the Korentepoort Dam and there is enough grazing that we can run about 60 cattle on the farm.”

“On hot summer days we’ll take a dip in the dam or the Vetterivier to cool off.  And then in the early evening, we’ll relax in the hammock at the boma/lapa braai area with its gorgeous views of Sleeping Beauty mountain peak,” she says. “Our best thing is to let the animals come and graze alongside us as we sip a glass of wine and watch the sun set.”

Specs:

• Farm size: 120 ha 
• Arable land: Approx. 35 ha

Accommodation:

• Main house: Approx. 350m²
  • Circa 1820, fully restored
  • 4 bedrooms (2 en suite)
  • 3 bathrooms
  • Guest toilet
  • Lounge, dining room, family room
  • Scullery
  • Large kitchen and indoor fireplace and four-door Aga stove
• Historic national-monument house: 336m²
  • Circa 1795, fully restored
  • 2 bedrooms (1 in separate-entrance, self-catering guest unit on ground floor)
  • 2 bathrooms (en suite)
  • Large open-plan kitchen, indoor fireplace and dining room
  • Cape Dutch ‘voorkamer’ lounge
• Summer House: 64m²
  • Outdoor braai area and dining room
• Long Mountain Lodge: 350m², solar system
  • 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (1 en-suite)
  • Large open-plan kitchen, dining room, lounge
  • Indoor fireplace
  • Large covered stoep with outside braai
  • Study
  • Laundry room
  • Double garage
  • Off-grid solar electricity
• Historical barn: 260m²
  • Accommodation unit (2 bedrooms, lounge, dining and kitchen with indoor fireplace)
  • Function venue,
  • Catering kitchen
  • Offices
  • Guest toilets (55m²) for function guests
  • Almost completed renovation
• Rental cottage 1: 96m², 3 bedrooms
• Rental cottage 2: 96m², 3 bedrooms
• Rental cottage 3: 44m², 1 bedroom, thatch
• Rental cottage 4: 44m², 1 bedroom, thatch
• Yellow House: 77m² to be renovated
• Goat Cottage: 60m², thatch, self-catering

Other:

• Horse shelter: 60m²
• Big barn: 375m²
• Old Shed: 144m²
• 2 chicken hoks housing fowl
• Bluegum shed: 140m²
• 2 small rondavels for equipment
• 2 small cement reservoirs
• Rates: R6 500 pa

Water:

• Gravity-fed water-reticulation system
• Leiwater furrow system from Korentepoort Dam of 140 000m3 per annum
• 11 water tanks
• 5 dams 

For details and the property brochure please click here

For more information on Riversdale, please click here

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