Towerwater Aan De Breede: March 2021

Thirty years ago, to the day, we took ownership of a neglected property at 25 Church Street, Bonnievale. We were young. Everything was possible if one was prepared to work hard, make sacrifices, and be prepared to compromise. We still had to discover the price one pays for dreams.

The start of a dream. Large vegetation and rubbish removed.

We came to the realization that the town did not see the house as we did. When Keith personally submitted our building plans for the house, he was told that a demolition permit was a much cheaper option. The senior representative of the local municipality advised him to save his money and take the demolition permit. He declined the generous offer.

Saving the cottage. One hole taking 120 bricks to fill.

First clean-up about to start.

Love at first sight, or a moment of madness.

We had little money, but lots of energy and great dreams. We loved the old buildings. To us, seeing the cow-dung floors, reeded ceilings, wall cupboards, brandsolder and other indicators of much older buildings, were like reading poetry. The house only needed some editing to help others see what we saw.

Clearing begins and the house breathes again.

From the word go, we never saw the present reality before us. Instead, we always saw our dream. We were determined to realise that dream. We were very purist in our approach to restoring the old buildings. We loved Cape vernacular architecture in its purist form. White walls, thatched roofs, painted woodwork and clay floors. The property in Bonnievale was begging to be restored to its former glory.

The first consignment of 16 tons of stone to rebuild missing sections of the terrace wall.

When we bought the house, we found that the configuration had been changed. Somewhere in history, the front had become the back and vice versa. It had a 1960’s stoep added with large steel framed windows. In fact, almost all the windows had been replaced with steel frame windows. Mostly, fortunately, conforming to the original openings.

Renovated cottage. This should keep it standing until restoration starts.

Basic renovations complete. Enclosing the property begins.

A celebratory moment. Enclosed and renovated.

We bought the house as is, with most of the furniture and contents of the loft included. The property had no fences. Portions of the property had been sold off only a couple of years before. The buildings needed serious intervention. The vegetation had to be brought under control as parts of the buildings were suffocated by under- and overgrowth.

Restoration of the cottage.

The house had been standing empty for a couple of years. As it is with vernacular buildings built with sunbaked bricks, it only takes a couple of heavy winters before neglected and exposed brickwork starts melting.

Home-made. Three sets of double gates, two single gates, hundreds of pickets, thousands of screws.

We realised that we had to stabilize the buildings urgently. A two-phased approach of first, renovation and then restoration, was called for. At the first opportunity we renovated the buildings. We kept to the external colour scheme of ochre and blue for the renovation stage. Saving the white, green and thatch for the final restoration phase.

Keith did a lot of the building work himself. From stone walls, garden walls, hearths, and chimneys. He made every picket by hand as well as all the gates.

Rosarium planted. Innovative automated irrigation system using canal water installed.

It works!

We were excited by every step of the renovation and subsequent restoration. The fact that we did it over a long time with spare cash and most of our available free time, meant that the decisions we made were better informed and ultimately benefited the house and us in the end.

Restoration and garden layout and planting complete.

We still have many projects at Towerwater that need to be completed. But, we are 95% there. There will always be details that we will want to improve.

Keith and a smiley Wolfgang take a moment to enjoy country life.

Planting and nurturing trees upfront for entertaining beneath 30 years later.

Looking back over thirty years, we must admit that we enjoyed every part of the process. The heartwarming as well as the heartbreaking bits.

Sticking out our necks to realise a dream.

Today, we have Towerwater to enjoy as the reality of our dreams. Friends and family have been an important part of this journey with us. Their insights and perspectives throughout the process have added a rich fabric to our lives.