ABOUT SPEEKHOUT FARM
Our story
Two city-runaways, one neglected farm and a whole lot of learning.
MEET MARK & PAULIEN
From Johannesburg
to the kloof
When we bought Speekhout at the end of 2016, it felt like a new calling. In April 2017 we packed up our life in Orange Grove, Johannesburg, and moved to the farm full time.
It was harder than we expected. Trading city life for farming changed who we are. We arrived as unqualified, slightly desperate but very eager city-runaways, on a farm that had been neglected for years, in a mountain landscape gripped by drought.
Long-time residents of the kloof still call this place Perdekloof. Its history is a hard one, and we see traces of it every day. Our hope is to slowly turn it into a place of grace, beauty and life again: to find meaning and purpose here, and to be part of what God is doing on this patch of earth.
Mark & Paulien Enrieu
“Building a new identity
on old ruins”
LIFE ON THE FARM SINCE 2017
WHAT WE'RE RESTORING
Slowly, by hand, season by season
Clearing the land
Our first years were spent cleaning up: picking up litter on our daily walks and pulling out kilometres of old black plastic irrigation pipe that criss-crossed the farm.
Bringing back water
We are restoring and re-purposing two of the farm's dams, fed by the fountains that also fill every splash pool on the farm.
Replanting the cedars
The kloof once had giant cedar trees that were lost long ago. We are replanting them, along with other trees that belong here.
Indigenous plants & animals
Bit by bit we are reintroducing the plants and wildlife that are native to this corner of the Baviaanskloof.
Fields & gardens
Working by hand, we are reviving fallow pastures and old harvest fields, and planting vegetables and fruit again.
Fixing & rebuilding
Repairing, redesigning and re-engineering what was broken, including renovating the guest stays and adding indoor fireplaces for cold Karoo nights.
Life on the farm
We work alongside people from the kloof who knew this farm in its former days. Together we are bringing the land back to life, and learning its stories as we go.
We share the farm with cattle, sheep, Muscovy ducks and a flock of quackers, and chickens that keep us in fresh eggs. Some evenings that means chasing sheep back to their camp in the dark.
The Baviaanskloof
Speekhout lies on the western side of the Baviaanskloof, a World Heritage Site in the Eastern Cape. Fewer than twenty privately owned farms remain along the kloof, which runs about 65 km from the Nuwekloof Pass to the reserve gate. Our farm borders the nature reserve, so kudu, klipspringer and other wildlife roam freely.
The farm is named after the speekhout, or wild peach tree (Kiggelaria africana), once used to make wagon-wheel spokes. We are members of the local association of kloof farmers and Nature Conservation, working together for the long-term future of the kloof's plants, animals and people.
A quiet farm
We love the peace of the kloof, and we'd like our guests to enjoy it too. Loud music, partying and anything that disturbs the quiet aren't allowed. If you're looking for birdsong, stars and a slower pace, you'll feel right at home.
COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF
We'd love to
welcome you
Tell us when you'd like to visit.
We'll help you find your little corner of Speekhout.