A newspaper clipping, dated 14 Feb 1998, describes the history of Uitspan and the family that established it…

In 1852 an older couple – Isak Wilhelm van der Vyver and his wife, bought the farm Buffelsdrift and built the Cape Dutch vernacular homestead to the North of us. Around the same time, some British settlers – Albert Butterworth, his brother, and his 14-year-old son Gideon arrived. After leaving the ship at Plettenberg Bay, they got work for a while with Andrew Geddes Bain – father of the now famous road engineer Thomas Bain

Later Albert found his way to Ladismith, loved the area and decided to stay. Gideon found work and lodging with Isak van der Vyver and his wife “Outannie”. Gideon met and consequently married Susan Heath, who had immigrated to the Cape from England with her parents. Their ship had been stranded in Mossel Bay and so a group had travelled inland and settled in “Hoek–van–Rooberg” about 15 kms outside Ladismith where a small English community had sprung up.

Gideon Butterworth built this Victorian vernacular house. The date on the one Gable is recorded as “GBW geb. 1860″ the other gable states “GBW geb. 1909″.

As the municipal records for this area were lost in a fire a long time ago, one can only guess at the meanings – does “geb.” Mean ‘gebou’ or ‘gebore’? We are still puzzled and wonder what renovations have happened over time.

Old letters, books, journals and records that we found in the ‘mud and daub’ ceiling/attic in the Barn have revealed that for most of it’s history, this farm was run as a vineyard (as were most small farms in this area). The Georgian-shaped structure opposite the Cape Dutch house next door, was the original “Wyn-huisie” (cellar) for this farm. The Cape Dutch building on the corner before getting to “Isak’s house”, was the old school for the area.

In 2006, Marieda and Raubie Smuts, the couple we bought the farm from, met with Mrs G. Butterworth, who was then 80 years old. She had left the farm in 1982 after selling to a Mr. Le Roux who lived here for 3 years and sold to a Mr. Veldman in 1987, the farm was then bought by the Smuts in 1999.

When we bought Uitspan in March 2008, it was very rundown and quite different to what it is today. The area of the dining room was an en-suite bathroom accessed only from the bedroom to the right of the passage. The entire north-facing Stoep did not exist – it was a drain and small step off the existing kitchen back door with no garden. The area to the west of the house was also created by us. By excavating the area under the beautiful old Gum we created an outdoor living area that was previously a narrow path and drain at the bottom of a steep slope and old water tank. The Barn was a completely dilapidated mud shack that had lost its one gable; there was no floor and no back or front Stoep and was being used as a cattle kraal. Before re-plastering the Barn, we chipped away the mud-plaster to reveal three separate renovations that had obviously happened over time and were very, very old – possibly pre-dating all the buildings in this area. We decided to increase the length of the Barn by adding the bathroom onto the one end.

Recently we made a feature of the old gravel road-way that ran behind the “Soutbos” hedge in the front of the garden by building a retaining stone wall and two “Boule” courts.

The historical “Stone Wall” and “Stone Kraal” are very interesting and we are busy doing research into their history. We have been told many interesting tales from the locals, from bushmen herders building them to the Boers in the Boer War using them to fight the English. However, we have since established from another source that these “Stone” creations are ancient, possibly thousands of years old, and were built by the “Quena” – ancestors of the San-bushmen. We will keep this historical account up-dated as we learn more

When we purchased “Uitspan”, there were about 280 Olive Trees that were around 7 years old but had been neglected and never pruned. We have since planted a further 1700 trees – a mix of cultivars but mainly “mission”, “Frantoio” and “Corentino”. We have added about 30 Almond trees to compliment the one existing tree near the reservoir as well as around 50 Pomegranate trees to the left of the drive way. We have also propagated and planted more Quince, Fig and Lemon trees.

We feel so privileged to be the current custodians of this beautiful little farm and to date have absolutely loved the process of restoring it.