Guests in the Zebra Room at Impangele B and B, Swellendam
Moving from London to Swellendam over seven years ago was somewhat of a culture shock, but not an unpleasant one by any means. A lifestyle change — in UK I worked as a Head of a Drama Department in a prestigious school, specialising in Shakespeare and in Physical Theatre. My husband worked in social housing, but his main raison d’etre was his beloved pub rock band.
I first came to SA in 2001 , bringing with me 37 well nourished, privileged, flourishing, intelligent, talented and enthusiastic girls, aged between 16 and 18. We spent ten days working on a dance drama project in Nyanga and Khayalitsha, with some malnourished, underprivileged, brilliant, intelligent, talented and enthusiastic students from Oscar Mpetha School. A joint international schools’ performance then took place at the Waterfront, before we returned to Britain, all of us fundamentally changed by the experience.
What was supposed to be a “once in a lifetime” experience became the “start of the rest of our lives”. Both husband and I devoted nearly all our time devising ways to get back to SA. Fund-raising began in earnest and three more school trips, and six holidays funded chiefly by overdraft, found us broke — but firmly ensconced — in the place we have chosen to live the rest of our lives.
The derelict house which we bought was turned through sweat, tears and much laughter into a Bed and Breakfast, and after the hard work was done, we looked forward to settling into a peaceful, undemanding way of life…
Do I hear hollow laughter????
The adventures of our ‘life in the dorp’ are in the process of being turned into a humorous book entitled “The Learning Curve”. Or at least they would be if I ever had a spare moment to spend on it. So for now, the Blog will have to suffice, and if you follow it, you will be able to read the stories encountered by my alter ego Mrs Gram:
the steaming cinnamon nuns / the day the prisoners did the garden / Swellenglam / Moffie-coffee / and much much more
What are your rates and where are you in Swellendam? [email protected]
If you check our website http://www.impangele.net our current rates are on there – from R290 up to R370 pps B & B in the main house and the self catering garden cottage is R690 high season, R590 low season (sleep 5) We are in Andrew Whyte Street, which is the road leading up from Voortrek Street towards the Marloth reserve, close to the golf course. Thank you for showing an interest – come and visit beautiful Swellendam!