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Fairview Historic Homestead

George - South Africa

Email Fairview Historic Homestead Reservations: southafrica@madbookings.com

Polished wooden floors, brass and iron four-poster beds from a bygone era, antique furniture and working fireplaces lend warmth and character to the spacious rooms with high ceilings.
Whether on business or holiday, home comforts and privacy will ensure a memorable stay in this graciously restored homestead.

A Victorian Cape-Colonial style home and a National Monument.
This lovely room gets full morning sun.
It has an antique four poster wrought iron and brass double bed, with French doors overlooking the lavender garden.
It has a cosy sitting area in front of the working fireplace. For guests in wheelchairs, there is a transfer board available for the bath.

Fairview Historic Homestead Accommodation

One of the charming rooms receive afternoon sun, with French doors opening onto the lavender garden. The extra length twin beds can be converted to a king size bed.
Tea / coffee tray provided. There is a microwave and bar fridge for your convenience. The room has a shower en suite. There is a cosy sitting area in front of the working fireplace.

Fairview Historic Homestead offers superior holiday and business accommodation, at reasonable rates. Four spacious bedrooms, all with en suite or private shower bathrooms and two with fireplaces.
Including:
- Full traditional breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner by arrangement.
- Secure parking.
- Wireless (Wi-Fi) high-speed Internet access available.
- Laundry service available on request (week days).
- Salt water pool; towels supplied.
- Golf and other sport facilities nearby.
- 15 minutes from the airport and 5 minutes from Victoria Bay beach.

The apartment itself consists of one bedroom with a double bed and an en-suite shower (wheelchair friendly).
The bedroom opens onto a sunny private garden with braai facility.

Fairview Historic Homestead Facilities

In-room facilities:
- High quality mattresses
- Cotton percale linen
- Television
- Safe
- Tea / Coffee Facility
- Hair Dryer
- Fan / Heater
- Small Refrigerator
- En suite shower or bathroom
- Desktop / table

Meals are served either on the covered veranda with a view of the Outeniqua Mountain range or at the big black and yellow wood table in the breakfast room.
Children are welcome, but with an open swimming pool and a house full of antiques - under parental supervision at all times please.

Dinner on request: A 3-course dinner in the dining room or in the winter in front of the open hearth in the kitchen;
a traditional braai (minimum 4 people) or Dinner-on-a-Tray / Room-Service.
We will gladly assist you with bookings for Golf at local clubs, local tours, restaurants, plus onward travel arrangements.
Ons praat graag Afrikaans met ons Afrikaans-, Nederlands- en Vlaamssprekende gaste!

History of Fairview homestead:
Welcome to Fairview Historic Homestead where Desmond is the creative force behind the glorious gardens and Philda runs the Guesthouse.
It took a lot of hard work to recapture Fairview’s long lost splendour and elegance and we invite you to share in our beautiful home and gardens when you next choose accommodation on the Garden Route and in George.

About your Hosts
The Benkensteins lived in Namibia for 13 years and bought Fairview in 1994. Desmond is a private practicing general practitioner, a keen sea angler and passionate gardener.
Philda loves hiking - apart from the numerous South African hiking trails, she has walked more than 900km of the Camino Pilgrimage in Spain and France.

The grounds on which Fairview stand was first registered in 1861 in the names of Messrs. Swemmer and Meyer, directors of the first bank in George.
When these two gentlemen found themselves in financial difficulty in 1894, they sold the farm to Koos and Miems Stander.
They had sold their farm at Victoria Heights so that their 8 children could go to school from home.

Two sons became attorneys, one son qualified in Scotland as a dentist and all 5 daughters qualified as teachers.
To get to Wellington Teachers College the girls travelled by horse-drawn cart to Mossel Bay, from there by ship to Cape Town and then by train to Wellington!
Koos Stander was Mayor of George from 1926 to 1932 and the house stayed in the Stander family from 1894 to 1974.
In those days it was a big apple and cattle farm on the outskirts of George; today it is centrally situated in the suburb of Bergsig and the grounds measure 3800 m² .

The Benkensteins lived in Namibia for 13 years. They bought Fairview in 1994 and took up the challenge to rescue this historic George landmark.
The 4 chimneys and fireplaces needed radical repairs before they could be used again and most of the light fittings were removed and had to be replaced with antique ones again.

Waterproofing of the clay walls also proved to be a major challenge, as was the stripping of the many layers of paint – this time consuming job was contracted out to a specialist team and took nine months to complete.
The house is now fully restored to it’s long lost splendour and elegance and is listed with the National Monument’s Council as well as the local George Heritage Trust. Desmond is the creative spirit behind the glorious gardens and Philda manages the Guest House.

You will find the gardens within the garden at Fairview a delight all year round. Desmond is a plant-hunter and you will be amazed at the variety of rare and unusual plants, both exotic and indigenous. There is a good mix between formal opposed to the romantic and overgrown.
The front garden features box-edged beds filled with lavender and the front stoep pergola is covered with a vine that supplies Philda with grapes for home-made grape juice in summer.
From early April Autumn colours abound thanks to this vine, along with giant Pin Oak and Liquid Amber. We have a number of birds, including owls, regularly using the trees for nesting.

Email Fairview Historic Homestead Reservations: southafrica@madbookings.com