St. Fort Country House

St. Fort Country House Guest House accommodation in Clarens Free State

Description

St Fort Country House is a restored sandstone homestead, set on 2 200 acres of farmland. It is situated 5km from Clarens. It has 5 en-suite bedrooms, large fully contained kitchen with under floor heating and a spacious lounge with log fire and a sunny verandah. St Fort can be booked for self-catering or bed and breakfast. For your comfort and convenience, we have electric blankets, DSTV, bathroom heaters and braai facilities in the garden.

History

Alexander Walker came to South Africa in about 1870. He lived in Fifeshire, Scotland. After developing a serious chest complaint due to the cold wet winters of Scotland, the doctors advised him to move to a warmer climate in the Colonies. He chose South Africa and soon set out in search of his fortune. They arrived in the Free State from Durban and were shown properties in this area. The greenness, water streams and magnificent mountains captured his imagination and he said that he saw a little bit of his homeland Scotland in these beautiful surroundings, and decided there and then to purchase the farm. They immediately renamed it St. Fort, after their ancestral home in Scotland.
At that time Clarens had still not been laid out or developed. In 1878 Alexander married Emma Liddell from the farm next door. Her parents moved to South Africa from Lancashire England when she was a wee baby.
During the Boer war 1899 - 1902 St. Fort was at times right in the thick of things. Being of British stock, the men-folk on the farm were looked upon as probable traitors by their boer neighbours, while the British made a special effort to commandeer them. They however, felt it wrong and against their best morals to fight for or against either. As a result of his refusal to become embroiled in the war, Alan their 17 year old son, was arrested and interned at a concentration camp at Bethlehem. Later he escaped and moved to Basotoland, it being considered a no-partisan area. The family recounted this time as hectic, difficult and frightening.
The farmhouse, being situated close to the road, would be visited one moment by the British forces and the next by some Boers - continually asking for or taking anything they considered worth their while.
In 1901 the depravation of war finally took its toll on the Walkers. They were removed from the farm and placed in the concentration camp at Ficksburg. Emma had given birth to her 10th child and was sufferering terribly from pneumonia. She was unable to walk. Alexander himself was not a well person and there were 4 minor children below the age of 10. The cold of the winter months were extreme. Amazingly Emma recovered in 1905 and bore her 11th and last child. She lived another 44 active years making her life to be beyond much reasonable comparison. Alexander and Emma's 5th child Hugo, built the present day St. Fort homestead for his wife Marjorie in 1913.

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Mike and Ruth Goldblatt bought the farm in 1964. They ran a dairy that supplied most of Clarens with milk. The old Clarens Supply Store (where Hardware Mecca and Horeb Butchery now are) also belonged to them for many years.

Through the years many a visitor enjoyed the warm hospitality of Mike, with his reminiscing war stories, and Ruth with her homemade eats and treats. They spent 30 happy years at St Fort, and when Mike passed away in 1994, Ruth moved down to Cape Town.

Brad and Ernestine, their son and daughter-in-law, now own the farm.

Contact Details St. Fort Country House 058 256 1345 058 256 1250 Enquire now View Rates View Directions

Attractions

Accolades

:Tourism Council of SA Star Grading

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