The living history of Soetmelksvlei farm opens

Brian Berkman enjoys a leap back into farming history as he experiences life on a Cape farm in the 1890s.

The living history of Soetmelksvlei farm opens
The original gabled building, now beautifully restored, houses the outstanding Old Stables Restaurant, while the toilets complex, complete with cattle-trough basins and piped farmyard sounds, is new.
Photo: Brian Berkman
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Soetmelksvlei is the new ‘old’ attraction at Babylonstoren, located between Paarl and Franschhoek in the Western Cape.

This writer has sung Babylonstoren’s praises before for the positive impact the farm has on agriculture, drawing the final consumer closer to farming practice and highlighting the essential role of the farmer in raising and growing our food.

But with Soetmelksvlei they have taken that connection even further by creating a living history experience of farm life during the late 19th century and the role Boland farmers had in creating the Western Cape’s stone-fruit industry.

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Following the decimation of vines by phylloxera in the Cape in 1886, farmers began developing vine alternatives and also planted other fruits like peaches. A giant peach and the peach-pip floor is the first thing one sees upon arrival at Soetmelksvlei’s reception.

The Soetmelksvlei story is set during this period of agricultural innovation, and while the farmhouse is original, creative licence has been taken in creating the identity of the family who might have lived there and how.

The farm was first granted to two Huguenots in 1694 and was called Van Bergen Henegouwen. It later changed hands several times and became the property of the Koch family in 1896, who changed the farm name to Donkerhoek. In 2019, it was acquired by the owners of Babylonstoren and, over the course of five years, Soetmelksvlei was born.

The farm stretches over 142ha, including grazing pastures for the Chianina herd, citrus orchards and the historic Soetmelksvlei farmyard that occupies 3,3ha.

This recreation of the son‘s bedroom, complete with a leather horse in the foreground used to hold items in place while being made or fixed, gives a glimpse into hardworking life but also shows interest in sports with the fishing rod above the bed, and in the sciences and natural world with the collection of feathers and quills.

Experts and creatives

Soetmelksvlei management say that many experts, creative thinkers, historians and master craftspeople were required to achieve this vision.

Architectural firm Open City was responsible for the initial research, development and design of the farmyard and buildings, with the help of archaeologists, heritage consultants, historians and project managers from Babylonstoren.

Etienne Hanekom executed the creative direction of Soetmelksvlei, working with Babylonstoren’s museum team to create installations and interiors that celebrate and capture the beauty of handcraft. Sylvia van Heerden and her team ensured that all the textural details look authentic.

Museologist Dr Elsa Vogts oversaw the curation of this multisensory, immersive journey through time.

“I’m fascinated by the culture of self-reliance that farm life in 1897 required. It was a self-contained eco-system where everything was handmade and repaired on site, with a surprising level of sophistication. My personal favourite is the water mill. It was a huge task to build a water mill from scratch, one that looks and functions like a 19th-century mill did,” Vogts tells Farmer’s Weekly and other media colleagues on a tour.

She says Soetmelksvlei is one of the few surviving living history experiences in South Africa. Guests are encouraged to fully engage with the items, animals and people working there in a major step away from the ‘do not touch’ and ‘quiet, please’ approach of most museums.

An ongoing programme of workshops is available for in-depth experiences, but each day, visitors have the opportunity to see milking of the cows, help separate cream from milk, and watch wheat being ground in the Vitruvian overshot-waterwheel mill.

Cream separator

Fanus Fourie, a farmer himself and an agri educator, demonstrates the technology that separates the cream from the milk with an explanation that the bell stops sounding once the correct speed of turning is achieved.

“My father would listen from his study and shout ‘turn faster, faster’ when separating the cream was my task as a boy,” he says.

Shoes have to be removed before entering the farmhouse, but non-stick socks are available for people who prefer not to be barefoot.

On entering the kitchen area of the farmhouse, just-baked bread was being taken out of the oven and the invitation extended to taste it with hand-churned butter, made right there with the farm milk, filtered but unpasteurised, collected only hours earlier.

Items placed in the master bedroom show William Morris wallpaper, most likely purchased from a catalogue, and the sewing machine on which most items would have been made.

That bread and butter was the most delicious bite imaginable. A steaming enamel cup of moer coffee and a buttermilk rusk prepared the tastebuds for the later lunch feast.

Other areas, such as the kraal and the workshop, have staff going about their chores. During the visit, nails were being made in the iron forge and repairs were being done to an ox wagon.

Farm animals

Black-feathered Naked Neck chickens, one of the first imports to South Africa, are present along with Venda and Boschvelder chickens scratching around the yard, while Pekin ducks were floating on the duck pond.

Turkey cocks were seen fanning out their tail feathers for the benefit of the hens. Blackhead Persian sheep, donkeys and Chianina cattle were visible in the kraal and pastures.

Eureka lemons, in season in July, were plentiful, and plans to plant a Pontac vineyard, a true heritage variety in the Cape, are on the cards. The old grape variety Kristal, commonly used for wine and brandy production in South Africa since the 17th century, is a rare sight today elsewhere.

The farm’s Percheron horses are stabled nearby. A gorgeous and playful pair of collie dogs, as fascinated by the guests as they are with each other, were seen charging around and chasing each other, while Gemmer, the farm’s ginger cat, presides over all.

Heritage varieties

Babylonstoren gardeners collected cuttings of some of the oldest specimens of heirloom fruit trees in the Boland and planted them here to bear fruit for future generations.

From Cape rough-skinned lemons to blush Royal apricots, the planted varieties in the vegetable garden were chosen to reflect the heritage of what would have been available in the 19th century.

Feasting

The food served in the Old Stables Restaurant is an extension of the food philosophy of Babylonstoren. The focus is always first on locally grown, seasonal produce, but with one change: here it is offered buffet-style with heaving tables of fresh fruit, vegetables and salads along with preserves and chutneys.

Another table had cheeses, biltong and dried sausages. The selection of breads includes just-off-the-coals roosterkoek, a traditional farm loaf and seeded bread. From a table directly in front of the open hearth where vats of lamb curry and other items are being prepared, the hot dishes are served.

Enjoy produce like farm loaf, seed bread and salads at one of the buffet tables in the Old Stables Restaurant.

Beverages include bottle-brewed ginger beer with fermenting raisins and home-made lemonade.

Along with stove-top pots of coffee there were a few sweet items. The moist orange cake was a fitting end to an outstanding meal.

Lunch is available from R280, with home-bakes an additional R55. The children’s menu is R80. Vegetarians are well catered for but those on a gluten- or sugar-free diet may struggle.

For children

The children’s offering at Soetmelksvlei spans many age groups with a toddler-suitable Cape Dutch playhouse. There are also many outdoor attractions (including milking wooden cows with spurting water).

Teens and adults will be pleased to know that Wi-Fi is available throughout and a growing collection of taxidermied animals, birds and reptiles and a very extensive research library are all available. There are reading and snoozing pods too. Soetmelksvlei says that all the displayed species died of natural causes.

Wear comfortable walking shoes and be prepared for being outdoors with your own sun and rain protection. The writer found the wind-chill factor on the opened-sided shuttle vehicle significant, so a coat or scarf are recommended on winter mornings.

To buy

Things to buy at the Jonkershuis shop include opsitkers, courting candles used to determine the duration of an admirer’s visit. Hand-made leather rugby balls, soaps and hand creams made from beef tallow, honey, pickles and home-bakes, among others, are for sale.

There’s also knitting, embroidery, handicrafts and beautifully crafted, hand-made toys. For Farmer’s Weekly it was like discovering a local church bazaar in a forgotten tiny village.

What makes this experience special is how beautiful merchandised items are, some displayed on a painted ox wagon, and all in the high style you’d expect from a top global fashion brand.

Soetmelksvlei is an experience that requires a bare minimum of three full hours, but four or more hours are recommended. The only way to get there is on a safari-style open-sided vehicle with departures every 30 minutes. It takes almost that long to get there, but time flies as passengers look at the surroundings and listen to a multi-language audio-guide.

Upon arriving at Soetmelksvlei, there is a short introductory video.

Audio guides and maps are available. Open from 9am to 4pm Thursday to Sunday in winter, and daily in summer from 9am until 5.30pm.

Shuttles depart Babylonstoren at 30-minute intervals from 8.30am to 1pm and return again every 30 minutes from 11am onwards.

Fees

R300 per adult (includes an annual Babylonstoren membership valued at R100); R200 per adult with a valid Babylonstoren membership; R100 per child aged four to 17; free for children aged three and younger, provided they sit on an adult’s lap for the shuttle ride from Babylonstoren to Soetmelksvlei.

Book at babylonstoren.com or at [email protected].