I HAD A FARM IN AFRICA

Finding a home on the Setidisho ranch gave us an excellent start in the private sector, but we still hankered after a place of our own and a nearby development was taking place where a large ranch was being subdivided into 10 hectare plots. We knew that we would not be able to stay as tenants indefinitely, so we decided to buy a plot and build our home on it. We had no particular resources behind us and it was a bit like Kennedy saying "We are going to put a man on the moon by the end of decade" when he didn"t know how he was going to do it!

I had employed several local tradesmen previously on contracts and I called them in to discuss building a house. It seemed that joint moral support won the day; I felt reassured that they could handle the brickwork, plumbing electrics , etc. and they felt that as long as I kept the cash coming and gave them plans to work to, they were happy.

I drew up plans quite literally on the back of envelope, I think it was the one carrying the details of my mothers will, and this was developed into improved versions on sheets of A4 paper, but at no stage did we employ a professional architect or QS. We planned a shade netted garage next to the kitchen, a walk in store cupboard, an interconnected dining room & kitchen and two bathrooms, everything we felt desirable, complete with a curved archway!

One of the many problems life in the bush would present was a water supply. Drilling and equipping a borehole was a very expensive business, with a low success rate in the area and this influenced the design of house. It's roof measured about 15m x 15m and was designed in one plane with a very gentle slope. This meant that the ceiling could be laid close under the steel I beams supporting the IBR roof and the space filled with insulation material and the ceilings would not show any perceptible slope. More importantly, all the rainfall that fell on the roof could be collected by a single guttering system and channelled into a ground level PVC reservoir supported in a weld mesh frame. Although we only enjoyed on average 12 inches of rainfall per year, this system provided all the water we required for our family of five plus the staff who lived on the property.

As regards electricity, I installed a small diesel electric generator with electric start and a relay wired to the kitchen, so that the system could be started and stopped from the kitchen sink. A small electric pump pressurised the water system in the house and filled a roof top tank as well, which gave us a gravity supply when the generator was not running and a pair of gas cylinders supplied our energy needs for cooking. Solar water heating panels on the roof provided more hot water than we could use.

A trip to the pine shop in Rustenburg with the Chevrolet truck saw us with a fully fitted kitchen and Kingsley Butler's huge octagonal dining table gave the finishing touch to the dining room. We cut the first sod on the 28 October 1985 and moved in on the 28 March 1986 with no major hiccups in the process. We fenced off the property during the building and our horses, dog & donkey moved in with us. We had a farm in Africa!