For the last 5 days, we have been staying at the most heavenly location, it is just outside of Belfast, a little town in South Africa, on a friend’s farm. We have had such a wonderful time. I have taken so many photos’ that I am sure I will not be able to blog them all, but here goes anyway.
It was wonderful to just travel into the country, where there is nothing for miles and miles….. Only grass, tall hills, and plenty of wild animals. On the land where we stayed we were literally surrounded by Zebra, Blesbok, and Wildebeest. There are also Porcupines’, Pangolins, Jackals and beautiful birds that we do not have where we live. The Blesbok would actually come right up to the house early in the mornings. There was plenty of mist each morning and we would look down into the valley below where the next door farm had baled all the hay in the field, beautiful…..
A photo for you Elizabeth, I know you will love this….
The farmhouse we stayed in was totally off the grid, we used solar power for electricity and our water was heated with gas and our food was cooked with gas.
The Farmhouse….
We took our mountain bikes with us this time and we cycled every day, the children loved this. Even Kye our little one, could ride on dad’s bike, a friend of ours made a special seat that attaches to Richard’s bike and he can just sit here and let dad do all the work…I think I am really fit now, LOL, I will have to keep this exercise routine up now that I am home….. There are also trout dams on the farm where we stayed with a little creek and the kids just loved swimming here. Jenna found a fantastic supply of black clay on the banks of this creek and she has brought some home with her.
We also did quite a lot of hiking while we were there and we hiked up to some ruins that have been there since the Boer War in South Africa. We looked at different animal spoor (footprints) and found some beautiful mosses too. It was really so divine to be in the great outdoors, I wish we were still there….. (With an internet signall of course, LOL)
Enjoy the photographs……
Zebra…
A Baboon Spider we found while walking up the hill….. he was bigger than the palm of my hand…
WildebeestJenna’s black clay she found…The Boer ruins…Picnic at the Boer ruins…Blesbok…Richard fly fishing at the trout dam…Wildebeest…All playing in the creek…Have a lovely week…
Wow! What a gorgeous place! You were able to stay off the grid AND interact with nature on such a deep level. I’m very jealous!
That looks like an incredible place that you visited. I love seeing photos of where you live.
Hello Jane
Tonight I am a sad Mom. I do love the photo and I needed to see that beauty to lift my spirits. What a lovely retreat you all had. I love your new gnomie too. Maybe our gnomes could be friends……
Love you lots
Elizabeth
Linda, I don’t even have to say to you that I am envious…all of it is so beautiful..What a place and what memories for you all. You must all feel rejuvenated from the open space and the daily biking exercise. I love that misty picture and the majestic lone wildebeest. Interesting to explore evidence of the boer war at those ruins too. Such a beautiful country. I would love to have my hands in that black clay – what a lucky find.
Thank you for sharing.
Blessings
Kelly
Oh wow. I don’t even know what to say other than “wow!”
Hello Joy, it was lovely to think that we were off grid and so comfortable, so it can definatley be done…
Thanks Dawn, I am so glad I could share this wonderful trip with everyone, we all had such a great time.
Hello my friend Elizabeth, I hope you feel better today, I thought that countryside photo would help a little. It was a lovely retreat, an actual knitting retreat also, I knitted and knitted and looked out at the valley, it was so beautiful. I’m sure our gnomes would love to be friends, thanks bud, love to you too,sending you white light….
Hi Kelly, it’s lovely to hear from you, it was wonderful hiking up a really big hill and discovering those ruins in all that long grass, to sit there and think of all the people that were once on that hill and imagine what they were like…. The
clay is amazing… Have a great St Patrick’s day…
Hi Tammy, it was WOW, I wish we were back there, there are so many other photos’ that are fantastic, I even have one of a Baboon spider that crossed our path on the way up the hill, he was the size of my hand and really hairy,oooooh, he was quite a beauty… Thanks for dropping by my friend….
wow great pictures!!! I wish I was there
So beautiful… I really ‘felt’ africa in your photos. I miss her SO much… most of all my family, but second of all, the bushveld. I’m so glad you had such a lovely holiday together.
What an amazing trip! I love that the farmhouse is off the grid. The black clay is neat, and the animals are so interesting! Thank you for posting this.
Thank you for sharing your holiday! It looked like a good time and absolutely wonderful scenery. Now I want to go to South Africa even more than ever!