How did we get here?

So here we are - living our own dream, on a wine farm in the Valley of Dreams, Franschhoek. But how did we get here?

About five years ago, our long-time, close friends - Vaughn and Claire Fulton - told us that they were looking for a wine farm for a foreign business partner of  Vaughn's. The basic instruction was to find a farm, but it came with a list of other prerequisites. Not much further than an hour from Cape Town airport, close to nice restaurants, shops and other good wineries and most importantly, it must have a stunning view!

When we found out about this proposal, we told Vaughn that we wanted in - and that when he found this elusive farm, we wanted first dibs on coming to live and work on it.

Every now and again, Vaughn would tell us about this or that farm that he was looking at, but none seemed to fit the bill. Never-the-less, we continued to tell him that when he found the farm, we wanted to be part of the plan. Wink, wink - as if that was ever going to happen.

For 30 years, we have been on a wine journey. Visiting wine farms, being part of wine clubs, learning, tasting and experiencing wine - it has become a mutual passion. Many a time we would stop at a wine farm for a tasting to be met by a lacklustre employee who knew precious little about the wine and didn't show much enthusiasm for the job. I often thought that I could do better, and in fact, always dreamed of doing the job.

In January of 2023, Vaughn and Claire announced that they had found the farm and the pie-in-the-sky dream started to look like it just may become reality.

The farm is Stony Brook in the Bo-Hoek of Franschhoek - a farm we had visited 24 years prior, where the warmth and friendliness of Joy McNaught (former owner) was something we have always remembered.

I dug around in my old photo albums and found this pic of me tasting the wine at Stony Brook in 1998 (one or two of those chairs are still on the farm!).

During a trip to the Western Cape in February, we visited Stony Brook with the Fultons and stayed for two days, sharing our thoughts about how the farm could be improved without losing its charm and authenticity. 

A week later, Vaughn asked us if we "were in". Neill's immediate reply was "hell, yeah!" but I started to have reservations, worrying about my pension and thinking that it may be best to stick out the three years I had left at the university before I had planned to retire, and continue to build up by pension fund that I had already worked 35 years towards building.

So we had some discussions and thought lots of thoughts and I asked myself if in three years time, I would be happy and satisfied to say that I had given up an opportunity to live my dream in exchange for a little more financial stability. Obviously the answer was NO so I handed in my resignation and Neill bid farewell to the four months of retirement he had thoroughly enjoyed, and we told Vaughn that "we're in!"

I worked my six week notice period and finished off all the projects I was working on, while we made plans for our move, arranging the management of our PE home by our son, Dean and tying up all our loose ends.

We had the farewells and I shed the tears for the amazing colleagues and friends (and our awesome neighbours!) that we were to leave behind. 

Saying goodbye to Dean and to our dogs Oli and Gracie and our kitty, Skyler was tough, but that was the sacrifice required to grab this opportunity and do something totally different. 

Would we regret it? Somehow I doubted it. 

On Friday the 28th of April we had a final farewell with our music-loving friends at our favourite spot The Music Kitchen. The next morning, we packed the car with our clothes, an airfryer, slow cooker, some books, a Bluetooth speaker, a photo frame of our children and that was pretty much about it.

We headed off down the N2 and broke the journey with a visit to our good friends Candy and Ralph in Knysna. 

Sunday, 30 April 2023 - we arrived at our new home on Green Valley Road, just a five minute drive from the stunning town of Franschhoek. 

Warmly greeted by the winemaker and his wife - Craig and Juanne McNaught - we felt welcome and ready to start this new adventure. After settling into the empty Manor House with nothing more than a mattrass, bedding and a few kitchen basics, we poured ourselves a glass of wine to take in our first Stony Brook sunset. 

May we never forget how the view took our breath away on the first evening. 

DELORES DIARIES

Neill has been recording voice notes since this journey started to take shape. He calls them his "Delores Diaries" - making reference to the late Delores O'Riordan of the Cranberries who sang a song called Zombie with lyrics "What's in your head, in your head?" These are a couple of the thoughts that were in his head, which he recorded while sitting outside, listening to birds and enjoying nature...

30 January 2023
"...would love to go and live on a wine farm. That's my goal. Bev's a bit hesitant because something always happens."

12 February 2023
"...Bev will be able to do this job. In terms of running the accommodation - Bev will know the dog's name, and the cat and the bunny - before the people leave.." "So what can I bring to the table? I like improving processes and making things work better. I see a future in this...Vaughn, you've found a pearler"

21 February 2023

"We've played it safe our whole life and built up enough to retire on and it's time to take a jump, so let's do this! Debbie's post this morning was very inspirational...I'd love to go and live out on a farm - away from taxis etc. and make a difference".

23 February 2023

"...you don't have anything to lose, you only have to gain!" said Pieter, Bev's boss, mentor and our friend for over 35 years.

24 February 2023

"...wine has been our thing. It's been a passion of ours and the fantasy of working on a wine farm is cool BUT living the process of something that we've been interested in for so long - seeing how it's made - how many people have that opportunity? It's not going to be easy, we're going to pushed out of our comfort zone completely in all realms, but it's going to be an interesting journey"

3 March 2023

"...Vaughn phoned and said "Eriksum, are you in on this thing?" and I said YES Vaughn, we're in! So, that was signing on the dotted line. I'm starting to get excited" 

12 March 2023

"...it's going to be so exciting, Bev and I working on the same project, the same cause, and seeing the changes and improvements and having a helluva life experience".

Episode two - "New Beginnings" will follow soon, accompanied by a few more Delores Diaries entries.