It was a gloomy afternoon and the rain was just pelting down so it seemed the ideal time to discover what the Spookhuis (ghost house) is. I first read about it in Mariette du Toit-Helmbold’s 10 Great Getaways around Cape Town, but that just wet the appetite.
It’s about 10km outside Stanford on the road to Wortelgat, which only adds to a sense of intrigue! Now wortelgat means “root hole”. The farm at the end of the road was a stop-over for wagons en-route to the hinterland. They needed fresh water as the estuary is salt water, so they dug a hole in limestone rock and exposed the roots of the milkwood trees.
The road winds along southern side of the Klein River — mainly wilderness until you get to Springfontein Wine Estate — and past Stanford River Lodge right on the river. It’s a dirt road but not bad at all.
And then one comes to Mosaic Private Sanctuary and the milkwood trees which the road tunnels through, and then… the most surprising house that defies all expectations.
I had a really memorable lunch there!
Click here to read more about The Spookhuis.
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