The Owl House in Nieu-Bethesda
We drove from St Francis Bay to Nieu-Bethesda on Saturday 24th April 2021, the place had been on my bucket list from the time I had seen pictures of Helen Martin's Owl House. We arrived at our Accommodation, The Tower Cafe and stayed in the Priory room, our accommodation was clean and very unusual. Situated inside the Bushman Museum, all the rooms related to buildings found on church grounds, it has been a while since Michael and I shared a bathroom with other people - army days and boarding school memories.
After settling into our accommodation, we headed for the Owl House. The pictures above are a tiny reference to a house that has been transformed into art - Helen Martin's art. Not to everyone's taste, one still has to be impressed by the sheer size of the project and the characters involved.
We continued to the Kitching Fossil exploration centre. There was a level of resistance from Michael, not verbalised but inherent in his walk (museums are not his favourite places). Our guide transformed the topic into an interesting journey taking place 500 and more billion years ago. We were both transfixed. From the videos, we were shown, to the walk on the river bed where the fossils in the river bed are still in situ.
We had a drink at Boeties pub prior to walking to the Waenhuis for dinner and met Heidi and fellow locals, all are very warm and welcoming, we saw her again at the restaurant where we enjoyed a great dinner and a fun-filled evening.
After dinner, we walked around the town. The church is beautiful with prime position and well maintained. The bookshop has just re-opened and at 9pm we bought a set of playing cards with the various cement sculptures of the owl house as the card faces. No road lights and no tarred roads yet the place has a surreal comfortable atmosphere where all of the locals greet you and the place feels safe.
The next morning we walked across the river for breakfast at the Sneeuberg Brewery and 2 Goats Deli, different cheeses, salami and homemade bread. We then went to the Village Inn to get directions to the CompassBerg trail which we were unable to find. Michael tried out the Ford's 4X4 capabilities but unfortunately, my navigation did not end at the trail - after much searching, we drove back to a well-earned honey beer at the Brewery.
Dinner was traditional Karoo fare and after a good night sleep, we drove back home via Aberdeen where we had a lovely breakfast, grateful to Zoe and Darren for having looked after Blaq and Blu enabling us to go away for a lovely weekend.
We have to go back another time to try the Ibis restaurant as they were away for the Cradock food fair.
