go! Platteland

The slow life is the good life: go! Platteland celebrates the rural lifestyle and the entrepreneurial spirit of people whose hearts are in the platteland – whether they grew up in the countryside or are already based there, are contemplating making the move or simply hankering after the rural life. Platteland offers articles that focus on entrepreneurs, DIY projects, animals, gardening, food, towns and people. It is both practical and inspiring – as much of a visual feast as it is a celebration of great writing.

Change: a blessing in disguise

go! Platteland

Chitchat

News &diary • Summer is a time to unwind and catch up with loved ones. Here are a few suggestions for festive season celebrations – discover good food and drink, decor to inspire you, and festivals and markets in abundance.

Ah, coffee!

A brew in summer, though?

Make a wish by the light of a firefly

Giving felines a fighting chance

Nostalgia in technicolour

Dates to diarise

LAST CHANCE: SUBSCRIBE AT THE 2018 PRICE!

Let’sgo to town • To put together this selection of cool buys, we followed the sun to Cape Town, Carnarvon, Citrusdal, Darling, George, Green Point, Hankey, Joburg, Lynedoch, Paarl, Pietermaritzburg, Simondium, Welllington and Westlake.

De Rust The name says it all! • De Rust lies at the foot of the Swartberg, 2 km from the southern end of Meiringspoort, and holds a heavenly attraction for former city dwellers who, in the great natural beauty of the Little Karoo, have discovered the happiest versions of themselves.

Meet the people

Dostcards to Oom Jan Poortjie • Oom Jan van Niekerk’s life was divided according to the dry and the wet years on his Bushmanland farm Poortjie. And the final chapter was an eight-year drought. Oom Jan didn’t get to experience the wonderful summer of 2021/2022, so Willem van der Berg photographed it for him.

The FAIRY GODMOTHER of ugly food • On Drie Eike fruit farm on the outskirts of Robertson, Elana Bruwer transforms the Cinderellas of the Breede River Valley’s fruit industry – the fruit with blemishes and bruises – into a range of home-made products that are now sold in seven provinces and online.

Striking while the iron is HOT • Blacksmiths and bladesmiths, those keepers of the forge and masters of hot metal, are creating works of art in some unlikely dorpies across South Africa. Alan Duggan tracked down a few of them and came away with new respect for a craft dating back thousands of years.

Sometimes love hurts

In the beginning…

WOOL POWER • When you’re offered the chance to travel to the Karoo to experience the very first festival dedicated to celebrating every aspect of South Africa’s renowned wool industry, you don’t think twice!

At acanter to Philippolis • After half a lifetime in the city and 20 years in the police, Juliette Whelpton was eager for her life to take a new direction. A documentary about the Anglo-Boer War and footage of Fleur, General Christiaan de Wet’s Arabian horse, became the point of departure for her series of children’s books HeroeswithHooves. And she followed the spoor from Pretoria to Kaapsehoop… and then to Philippolis.

The art of Cigars • A hand-rolled cigar is nothing like a cigarette. You need time to smoke a cigar to truly appreciate the aromas, and you don’t inhale the smoke. What’s more, each Santa Bras cigar, rolled by hand using tobacco grown locally, is truly a work of art.

How to smoke a cigar

Cigar facts and trivia

DISCOVER THE FURTHEST REACHES OF NAMIBIA WITH US • Come and get lost (in a good way) in the Kunene Region in the north-west of the country with go! and Heuningland Tours. It promises to be the trip of a lifetime

WELCOME TO 7 STEPS TO YOUR START-UP

Down the garden...