The most favoured room, undoubtedly, is the Knegtekamer (Slave’s Quarters), furnished completely in traditional style. Alta Coetzee feels so close to, even protective of, this room that she will only recommend it to certain people.
Here you can snuggle down and watch the shadows from an oil lamp play across the walls, and let your imagination tiptoe across the threshold of another century. Flagstone floors covered in animal skins, solid furniture that dates to when craftsmen crafted lovingly – even for minions’ living quarters, old cookie barrels, candlesticks, snuff boxes, ball and claw bathtub – all add to this special unit’s character.
You may have to bathe by candlelight in the wonderful old bathtub, and in summer you’ll have to untie the mosquito net above the bed and surround yourself with the protective lace that spans like a tent around you, but in all it adds up to a wonderfully memorable experience. Stoic stares from portraits of two presidents of the Old Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek framed by their republic colours, will watch over you while you sleep. If you feel bold enough, you could make yourself a fire in the hearth, or sit on the riempiesbank (riempie seat settee) and page through an ancient Huisgenoot (Afrikaans magazine). The architecture and furniture will keep the interested spell-bound for hours on end.
The most intriguing thing about this room is that you’ll have to fight a terrible urge to come back again and again…
