Capturing Beauty

When we saw the house in Bonnievale for the first time in January 1991 it was a house in desperate need of rescuing. The first glimpse of it was from across the canal and the 60’s steel frame windows did not give much away of the age of the house. The house was a mess inside and the “sunroom” added in the 60’s was just that; a space capturing the dusty rays of sunlight falling through threadbare curtains.

The Start of a Dream 1991

Walking through the front door our hearts skipped a beat looking at the cow dung floors covered with threadbare linoleum, the reeded ceilings and wall cupboards.  We saw glimpses of a former beauty and the potential just waiting to be restored.

We sacrificed a lot to realise our dream but we were rewarded time and time again by the property and we still stand amazed at how our dream to capture a lifestyle came true.

We wanted to restore more than just a Cape vernacular house we wanted to restore a true vernacular lifestyle with a holistic approach to the restoration of the fruit, vegetable, herb and flower gardens.

Realising the Dream 2013

We collected Cape country furniture to compliment the house and capture the art of historical craftsmen.  We managed to introduce most of the elements of Cape country furniture back in the house and the rooms came alive with authenticity.

Old Front 1991

We introduced all the fruit and elements of a historical Cape farm garden and the Muscat de Alexandrie grapes, borrie quinces, pomegranates, black figs and other fruit names do not only fall like poetry on the ear but grace the tables  in the house like still-lifes waiting for Luis Melendez to capture them in oil.

Old Front 2013

We love our country and are proud of what our country has to offer and that is why we embrace the South African vernacular in building, furniture, food, art and writing. We have tried to capture all this in the restoration of Towerwater Aan De Breede. Our reward was a lifestyle offering the best of the local life informed by experiences during local and overseas travels.

Cottage 1991

We never wanted to capture a lifestyle suspended in a moment in time but a lifestyle informed by the excellence from different periods and experiences creating an ever evolving lifestyle.

Cottage 2013

Our reward for our sacrifice of time, dedication and passion is the privilege to share this with family and friends who have stood by us over the years, supporting and helping in so many ways.

When we were nominated for a CAPTRUST award for the restoration of Towerwater Aan De Breede it was already an honour but to receive it on Saturday 22 November 2014 was more than we expected. We dedicate this award to our family and friends who have shared our passion and life.

We also dedicate the award to family and friends who are no longer with us but whose spirit will always be part of Towerwater Aan De Breede.

We were able to capture the beauty of true friendship through capturing the beauty of an authentic life.


Towerwater Aan De Breede

 

The 2014 CAPTRUST Award for the Conservation of the Built Environment

In recognition of the restoration, the 2014 CAPTRUST Award for the Conservation of the Built Environment was presented bearing the citation, “In recognition of their dedicated and enthusiastic restoration of Towerwater aan de Breede, an outstanding example of re-construction, which is based on historical records, archaeological evidence, local oral reminiscences, hard and sustained physical labour and intelligent interpretation”.

The Measure of Things

Every day we need to measure something. If you plant seeds you measure the depth of the hole and if you cook you measure the ingredients. I collect old recipe books and most give measures as a pinch, smidgen or dash.

Now a pinch of something is clearly taking the thumb and forefinger and pinching the salt, sugar etc. The problem comes in with the size of ones fingers. Will my recipe be saltier or sweeter than somebody with a smaller hand?

My problem was solved when our friend Meta came to visit bearing gifts, a set of measuring spoons that measures a dash, pinch and smidgen. Based on these spoons, there are two pinches in a dash and two smidgens in a pinch.

Measuring Spoons from New Zealand

Now my pinch and Hildagonda’s* pinch will be exactly the same.

When sowing seeds I just make rough rows estimating the depth of the furrows and much is left to the seedling to do the rest after planting and watering. That was until Keith came home bearing a gift, a dibber.  A dibber dear friend   is a pointed wooden stick for making holes in the ground so that one can plant seeds, seedlings or small bulbs.

The dibber dates back to Roman times and the design has basically stayed the same with a few changes in the handle of it. My new dibber is the classic design, the straight dibber, well it was Keith that bought it so it would be the classic design that appealed to him.

The dibber was made by Tobias Beyers, Meta’s brother and Keith bought it at the family’s art exhibition in Pretoria.

The Dibber from Pretoria

It is quite poetic how the creativity of friends adds to and influences the creativity in one’s own environment that will in turn influence others that interacts with that environment.

The gifts are practical works of art that will contribute to the art produced in our kitchen and garden.

As long as we have hands we should use it to create beauty

*Hildagonda Duckitt, South Africa’s first lady of food born and raised at Groote Post about 150 odd years ago.

The Beauty of Detail

When we walk into a room, why do we find it beautiful? Is it the texture of a wall, the exquisite wood and design of the furniture, the patterns in carpets and upholstery or the understated floors and ceilings?

18th Century Teak Furniture with Murano Glass

For me the beauty of the rooms at Towerwater is a culmination of handmade detail. The furniture, carpets, lamps, floor tiles, ceilings and even the plaster on the walls are handmade which all rest easy on the eye. One is never conscious of the separate detail in a room but more the harmony of the sum of it.

Murano Glass Detail
 

The need to understand and the pursuit of beauty are as old as the human race itself. In 1753 William Hogarth published his book The Analysis of Beauty in which he describes his theories of visual beauty and grace in a way that was accessible to the common man of his day.

18th Century Corner Chair Detail

Hogarth had six principles, which independently affect beauty. Apart from an academic discussion of what beauty is there is the understanding of what is beautiful to each individual.

Burano Lace Detail

At Towerwater we follow the rules of simple and classic design when we add to the layers of a room. Quality workmanship and products will always enhance the beauty of a space.

Linn Ware Detail

I like simple lines and functional beauty and will always fill my life with it. When I walk into a room one item can spoil the complete effect but when the sum of a room comes together to form a harmonious space true beauty has been achieved.

Stained Glass Detail

The detail that we introduce to Towerwater is what makes it special and some of it has been collected over years and when it came together at Towerwater it was as if an intricate puzzle fell into place.

Hand Painted Ceramic Detail

Beauty is more than visual it is a sense of space that comes from inside and when it is in harmony with the universe it cannot be anything but perfect.

Linn Ware Detail

Promises of Abundant Pleasures

November has brought with it the heat of summer turning the garden into a vibrant explosion of  fruit, vegetables and flowers.

View from the orchard

 

Where there use to be buds and blossoms young fruit abound with the promise of abundant pleasures.

Patty Pans

The Moonflower exploding into flowers

Close up of the moonflowers

Mange Tout
 

The flowerbed at the bottom of the vegetable garden

Apple Blossoms

News season Pomegrenates



 

Sunday morning harvest of Mange Tout, Mint, Petty Pans and Strawberries.



Spicing up Sunday

The first apricot crop was ripe and Saturday morning was spent harvesting apricots with major competition from a flock of mouse birds(muisvoels) that has already ruined most of the crop. With the harvest of apricots waiting in the kitchen I headed for our library to see what I can make with it. Apricot jam  was an option but the prospect of peeling all the apricots removed that option from my list.



Ingredients for Apricot Chutney

The next was chutney and I decided to make a spicy apricot, ginger, coriander and sultana chutney, my own once off recipe. Once off because my recipes are spur of the moment creations and I never remember the exact recipe to repeat it.


The start of the chutney

Sunday morning was spent making chutney, watering the orchard and killing rose beetles because the routine cannot be changed for new events they just have to be fitted into a busy routine of maintenance. In my effort to multitask I nearly burnt the chutney twice.



The final Product



The chutney turned out very good but it might be too spicy for the conservative palate.






Spoonfuls of Pleasure

Chutney is so versatile as an accompaniment or an ingredient to several different dishes.

 





10 bottles of Spiced Sunday Chutney

Cape-Pondweed Ponderings

A friend translated Waterblommetjies as Cape-pondweed. I decided there and then that I will not translate Waterblommetjie bredie for our foreign visitors. The words Waterblommetjie bredie is iconic and poetic.

I prefer the first picking of the season, the "botterkoppies", soft, pink and tender they need to be treated with care not to overpower their flavour.

Close-up of Botterkoppies

I find them so beautiful that I want to use them as flower arrangements and they do look like they are made for a rustic kitchen.

Display of Waterblommetjies

I prefer a slow roasted lamb shank in the oven and half an hour before supper I add the blanched Waterblommetjies to the lamb and let them bake together.

A vernacular dish in a vernacular kitchen

I prefer to serve my lambshank and Waterblommetjie bredie with a nice firm long grain white rice and a bottle of Spingfields' Work of Time. It is fitting for our lifestyle at Towerwater where everything is a work of time.

A work of time

I Baked You a Loaf of Happiness

Years ago I bought a 9inch black pot at an antique store just because I liked it. I could visualise where and how this small detail could add to the complete picture in our country kitchen. All the iron pots added to the ambiance of an iron oven door and pot ratchets in the kitchen. The kitchen could not only look like a country kitchen it had to smell like one too.

The dough doing what dough should do

 

For me it had to start with the smell of baking bread and I decided to bake it in the black pot, a country "potbrood". How does one describe the smell of baking bread to someone that has never smelled it. It starts off with a yeasty smell while your dough rises and while the bread is baking it fills the kitchen with a smell of comfort and happiness. Where homemade bread is baking there is a sense of family, sharing, warmth and love.

Freshly Baked Bread

The bread in the black pot has become a Towerwater tradition never changing because you do not need to change or adapt a good thing. Some days I have to bake more because friends can finish a loaf in no time. The experience start with the slicing through the crisp crust into the warm soft heart of the rustic loaf and then you let the butter melt into your chunky slice.

I can smell this from memory

It has gone beyond a loaf of bread and has become a symbol of love, sharing and the essence of Towerwater's kitchen. It turns a meal into an experience. Now when I want to invite happiness into our home I just bake a 9inch loaf of bread.

If Pablo Neruda could write an ode to bread how can I deny the poetry of bread to fill our house?

Ode to bread

Bread,
you rise
from flour,
water
and fire.
Dense or light,
flattened or round,
you duplicate
the mother's
rounded womb,
and earth's
twice-yearly
swelling.
How simple
you are, bread,
and how profound!
You line up
on the baker's
powdered trays
like silverware or plates
or pieces of paper
and suddenly
life washes
over you,
there's the joining of seed
and fire,
and you're growing, growing
all at once
like
hips, mouths, breasts,
mounds of earth,
or people's lives.
The temperature rises, you're overwhelmed
by fullness, the roar
of fertility,
and suddenly
your golden color is fixed.
And when your little wombs
were seeded,
a brown scar
laid its burn the length
of your two halves'
toasted
juncture.
Now,
whole,
you are
mankind's energy,
a miracle often admired,
the will to live itself.
......

Pablo Neruda

If you liked this excerpt you will love the complete ode.