What I do when I'm not Writing Cat and Dog Stories
Today I thought I'd share a little about myself and what I do when I'm not writing cat and dog stories.
My husband, Justin, and I live in a small village called McGregor, in the Western Cape of South Africa. It's a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains and vineyards, filled with many old cottages dating back to the nineteenth century. Visitors love to stroll the streets, viewing the pretty whitewashed and thatched buildings.
Our house was built in 1862 and is one of the oldest in the village. As such, it is a National Monument or, as they are now known, Provincial Heritage Site.
To keep ourselves busy we open up our home to guests from South Africa and around the world. We meet many wonderful people and have plenty of interesting conversations!
Fountain Place, as our guest house is called, is a beautiful, old building, with a thatched roof and a gorgeous central courtyard, and garden, teeming with birds. Oh, and it has two fountains, but you might have guessed that from the name...
We suffered a terrible drought in the Western Cape last year, as many of you may be aware, and the effects are still ongoing. We had severe water restrictions and lost a large part of our beautiful garden.
We've spent the past year changing the landscape of our garden and introducing many water wise plants which are now all beginning to bloom as Spring takes hold.
Our guest house is small, with only two suites, so I manage to find time to write upstairs in my studio in between guests.
Tomorrow we have guests arriving from Brazil so I'll be busy putting together a little vase of flowers from the garden in their suite, together with milk in the fridge for their tea and coffee.
Then there's the welcome chat, the dinner arrangements to be made, restaurant bookings, tips on what to do... We have so many wine estates in our area that guests can be kept busy visiting them for wine tastings and lunches, quite happily. We also have a beautiful donkey sanctuary here, a must visit for animal lovers!
Then it's breakfast prep. Fresh fruit, yoghurt and granola, eggs and bacon with slow roasted baby tomatoes, mushrooms... or will they not eat a cooked breakfast? We will have to find out! We get some unexpected breakfast requests sometimes!
It's not quite warm enough for guests to enjoy the pool just yet, although we did dip in a couple of days ago when we had an unexpectedly hot day!
But summer is coming, and as we are on the edge of the klein karoo, we experience extremely hot summers. The pool will be well utilised by everyone soon, no doubt.
And so, after a busy weekend, when all is calm, I will creep back upstairs to my studio, glass of wine in hand, and put in a little writing time...
My husband, Justin, and I live in a small village called McGregor, in the Western Cape of South Africa. It's a beautiful place, surrounded by mountains and vineyards, filled with many old cottages dating back to the nineteenth century. Visitors love to stroll the streets, viewing the pretty whitewashed and thatched buildings.
Our house was built in 1862 and is one of the oldest in the village. As such, it is a National Monument or, as they are now known, Provincial Heritage Site.
To keep ourselves busy we open up our home to guests from South Africa and around the world. We meet many wonderful people and have plenty of interesting conversations!
Fountain Place, as our guest house is called, is a beautiful, old building, with a thatched roof and a gorgeous central courtyard, and garden, teeming with birds. Oh, and it has two fountains, but you might have guessed that from the name...
We suffered a terrible drought in the Western Cape last year, as many of you may be aware, and the effects are still ongoing. We had severe water restrictions and lost a large part of our beautiful garden.
We've spent the past year changing the landscape of our garden and introducing many water wise plants which are now all beginning to bloom as Spring takes hold.
Our guest house is small, with only two suites, so I manage to find time to write upstairs in my studio in between guests.
Tomorrow we have guests arriving from Brazil so I'll be busy putting together a little vase of flowers from the garden in their suite, together with milk in the fridge for their tea and coffee.
Then there's the welcome chat, the dinner arrangements to be made, restaurant bookings, tips on what to do... We have so many wine estates in our area that guests can be kept busy visiting them for wine tastings and lunches, quite happily. We also have a beautiful donkey sanctuary here, a must visit for animal lovers!
Then it's breakfast prep. Fresh fruit, yoghurt and granola, eggs and bacon with slow roasted baby tomatoes, mushrooms... or will they not eat a cooked breakfast? We will have to find out! We get some unexpected breakfast requests sometimes!
It's not quite warm enough for guests to enjoy the pool just yet, although we did dip in a couple of days ago when we had an unexpectedly hot day!
But summer is coming, and as we are on the edge of the klein karoo, we experience extremely hot summers. The pool will be well utilised by everyone soon, no doubt.
And so, after a busy weekend, when all is calm, I will creep back upstairs to my studio, glass of wine in hand, and put in a little writing time...
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| Fountain Place, McGregor |
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