The Plans

The Facilitation Area

We have a beautiful old barn that is the perfect size for spacious, yet cozy facilitation area. The dimensions are 9 metres wide by 11 metres long with windows and doorways on three sides.

Renovations will commence with the roof. The existing corrugated metal roof will be taken down and recycled for roofing the three ablution areas.
We will put in new trusses that we’ll make and treat ourselves. For cladding we have chosen mazista slate for its durability, rain catching capacity and aesthetic.

The walls are still in very good condition so we just need to do a few patch-ups and give them a new coat of paint- inside and out. We will put in new, wooden window and door frames. The folding glass door onto the deck will be custom made.

On the east side of the barn we have planned a large wooden deck overlooking vegetable gardens and a traditional Xhosa hut. Facing the sunrise this space will be perfect for morning yoga sessions.All our untreated plantation wood is sourced from a nearby sawmill. The floor will be tongue and groove pine.

The Lapa

On a grassy field, in the very centre of our community, we will put up a large thatched lapa (oval- about 9m x 10m). The large entrance on the north-east side The earthen floor will be surrounded by a straw bale wall providing back support, but still low enough to see out all around. In the middle will be a fire place (only to be used as such on wind-free evenings!) so the roof will have a raised cap.

The Accommodation

For our course participants we will build four separate accommodation units, each with two bedrooms. They will have thatched roofs with cob walls and earthen floors. Thus our first workshops are likely to be one of our favourite community pastimes- cob building!

The Ablutions

There will be two ablution units specifically for the accommodation units and another that will serve the campground.
All will have corrugated roofing (recycled from the existing barn) and cob and wattle and daub walls.

For the accommodation ablutions, the loos in the will be connected to a biogas digester and the water will be solar heated (with the option of a biogas geyser back-up for cloudy weather). The camping ablutions will have a composting toilet and a “donkey boiler” for hot water.
Next to each ablution unit there will be a “firebath” for a hot bath under the stars…