As many of you may well know, it has been a dream of ours to be able to live on a small holding with enough space to grow our own food, have a few animals and be as self-sufficient as possible. This was always something that we had spoken of as “one day’’. As we dreamt of this day after day and night after night, we began to realise what we could actually do with all that space, and that we didn’t just want this space for the two of us, but that we could share this gift with other people, family and friends.

So, we finally took the plunge and purchased our very own 4.5 hectare plot at the Vaal Dam, only 1 hour from Heidelberg! It is going to be a long old process to build the smallholding up to the point where we can eventually move and live there permanently. But in the meanwhile, there is much fun and work to be done, namely; fencing, cutting down alien trees, building stone cottages, lapa’s and houses, swimming, setting out and planting organic vegetable gardens, planting indigenous trees, setting up irrigation systems, camping with friends and just enjoying this wonderful space God has blessed us with.

As mentioned, we do eventually plan to live there permanently and our dream is to grow organic vegetables, free range chicken and eggs and even a bit of grass fed free range lamb and beef, (if there is any leftover!), to sell to the surrounding communities and also assist the less fortunate in the surrounding area.

Chopping down the aliens to make a path through the trees

white beach sand!

Well deserved break under the trees

In love with our sandy beach

When you walk through the trees and spot flamingo

Us, after such an awesome day!

The joy starting to sink in

Flamboyance of flamingo!

Getting there …

Beautiful thunderstorm just as we were leaving

View from near the waters edge up to the plot

Cossy drying after a midday dip. Note the reading material, naturally.

Pathway down to the water, we will clear the spindly trees and make that area ‘home’ with our tent!

Gum tree forest

View out from the clearing

Gum tree forest

Clearings within the forest

View from the top boundary, water is beyond the trees

So much space amongst these trees to camp

Midway-ish, where we plan to build a house

View from the back boundary of the plot

The many gum trees

View from top boundary towards the left

We spent our first day there today, creating a pathway down to our very own beach, chopping down the blue gum trees which are currently blocking our beautiful view of the water. We have actual white beach sand in front of us which we hear from the residents is like gold on the Vaal. This is the closest we can get to the beach while being 600km from it. We were even visited today by a flamboyance of flamingos to our absolute delight!

Our plot is situated just a few km outside of Oranjeville on a farm estate called Leisure Beach. We are so looking forward to sharing this place with the people in our lives us, so if ever you need to get out of town or just get away for a while, please do get in touch with us. As there is nothing there at the moment, you will need to bring your tent and camping stuff for the time being. It is so peaceful and quiet, especially at night. You realise that you forget what it sounds like NOT to hear cars! We look forward to having friends and family over to enjoy a braai or poitjie and just chill to their hearts content.

Phase 1: Dig the sewage system, cut down the invasive blue gum tree blocking our beautiful view and use them for fencing poles and building material. Watch this space!