by admin | Karoo Legends
The early history of Somerset East and Glen Avon Farm is tied to the history of Robert Hart.
When Robert Hart stepped off a boat at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795, he was 18 years old, a private in the Argyllshire Highlanders and penniless. Yet this young Scottish lad was destined to play a major role in taming the old Cape colony’s wild eastern flank. After surviving the dangers of being a soldier on the turbulent eastern frontier, he took a short break in England before returning to the Cape Colony in 1807 as a commissioned officer in Colonel Graham’s newly formed Cape Regiment.
By now he was also married to Hannah Tamplin, and the couple settled at the military base that later became Grahamstown. After a while, Robert took over Somerset farm, established in the Zuurveld by the government to supply the army. While there the Harts welcomed the Scottish party of 1820 settlers who ventured inland to the Baviaans River valley. Those were tough times for the Scots, but luckily they had a helpful friend in Robert.
In 1825 Somerset Farm was shut down and the land was set aside for the new town of Somerset East. Left with a small state pension, Robert Hart moved with his family to land he had acquired a short distance away in a fertile valley below the Bosberg. A beautiful place he named Glen Avon.
Through hard work and great insight, he soon made his farm a landmark in the region. He bred top merino sheep, a breed introduced to SA by Colonel Graham, and so contributed greatly to what became an important industry. His orchards produced a fantastic bounty of fruits, especially citrus, and his flood-irrigated fields delivered huge harvests of grain that soon justified a private mill. The machinery for this was shipped out from Scotland and then transported by ox wagon from Algoa Bay over the Zuurberg Pass. The mill could produce two tons of meal a day and soon Robert was grinding all the wheat grown between Pearston, Ann’s Villa and Zwagershoek.
The amazing legacy of Robert Hart, who died in 1867 at the ripe old age of 90, is remarkable because everything has been so well looked after by his direct descendants. Their dedication preserved the old mill and the two homesteads as well as Hart Cottage.
But who and what was Robert Hart?
Robert Hart, II
Birthdate: January 05, 1777
Birthplace: Strathaven, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland (United Kingdom)
Death: September 14, 1867 (90)
Place of Death: ‘Glen Avon’ Farm, Somerset East, Cape Colony, South Africa
Place of Burial: Cape Colony, South Africa
Immediate Family:
Son of James Hart, III and Isabel Hart
Husband of Hannah May Hart
Father of Ann Stretch; Harriet Hart; Susannah Hart; Robert Hart, III; Caroline Hart; Cecilia Hart; Margaretha Birt. Fleischer; Eleanor Evelyn Pringle; Sarah Elizabeth Bowker (Hart); Richard Hart and Lieut. James Hart IV
Brother of Andrew Hart and Grizel Campbell (Hart)
Occupation: Soldier (Captain), Farmer and Businessman
by admin | Recipes
What is dinner at a Karoo guest farm without a lekker dessert?
CUSTARD PUDDING
1 packet of Tennis Biscuits
1 tin Condensed milk
1 small tin of Crushed pineapple (440gr)
750ml Custard
1/3 cup Lemon juice
- Make custard, medium thickness
- Put a layer of Tennis Biscuits in a large glass dish
- Pour over hot custard and repeat with another layer of biscuits and custard
- Beat condensed milk with lemon juice and fold in pineapple
- Pour over top of base
- Decorate with dollops of whipped cream and crushed biscuits or as desired
This makes a large pudding and is lovely on its own or served with ice cream
by admin | Recipes
Sunday lunch in the Karoo. Melt-in-the-mouth tender Karoo lamb roast and veggies with malva for pudding and chocolate cake for afternoon tea. Yeah, that sounds just about right. Sometimes you just want something a bit quicker to make. Maybe quick isn’t the right word. How about beef and vegetable soup, homemade bread and Macaroni Cheese?
This recipe is enjoyed by both guests and family and any leftovers freeze well for a quick and easy light meal.
Quick and Easy Macaroni Cheese
1 cup Macaroni (dry)
2 cups Milk
2 Eggs
1 cup Cheese – grated
1 tablespoon Butter
1 Tomato – sliced thinly
2 teespoon Maizena
2 teespoon Dry mustard
Salt and pepper
A dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Boil macaroni in salt water until tender and drain
Put cheese in a bowl and reserve some to sprinkle on top
Add mustard, maizena, salt, pepper and cayenne to the cheese
Add eggs one at a time and mix well
Boil milk, butter and macaroni together
Add to the mixture in the bowl
Pour into a buttered dish, sprinkle cheese over the top
Decorate with tomato slices
Bake at 180 deg for 30 +- minutes until browned and set
Serves six
by admin | Recipes
One of the desert favourites on a Karoo farm stay is Pecan Pie. Especially if nuts are grown on the farm. Bakers have been asked, actually begged, to give it to everyone who has tasted it. So here it is. It has an indecent amount of butter (margarine can also be used) in it, but now and then it is such a joy to eat something so decadent and mouth-watering that, oh what the hell, just do it! It’s usually served with lightly whipped cream otherwise you can also serve it with ice cream.
PECAN PIE
Pastry
300-gram Flour
3 level teaspoons of Caster sugar
210 gram Butter (or marg)
Rub well together (you can also use a food processor)
Keep 1/3 aside
Line a tart dish, sides as well
Filling
1 tin Condensed milk
2 Tablespoons Syrup
1-2 Tablespoons Vanilla
100 grams of Pecan nuts (or walnuts)
125 grams Butter (or marg)
Melt topping ingredients in a pot – DO NOT BOIL
Allow to cool slightly and add nuts
Pour over pastry in the dish
Crumble the remaining pastry over the filling
Bake at 180 deg for +- 35 minutes until brownish
If there is anything left afterwards it can be put out at breakfast the next morning and there will always be a few who can’t resist a small piece with their coffee. Utterly indulgent!
by admin | Recipes
Tea time at a Karoo guest farm isn’t tea time without some cake or tart on offer with your afternoon coffee or tea. One of Anne Bowker’s most popular teatime dishes when they ran a guest farmi was Cupcakes, decorated with slices of green fig preserve as leaves with tiny fresh briar roses.
Cupcakes
125 g Butter
155 g Caster sugar
2 Eggs
115g Flour
1 1/2 t Baking powder
150 ml Milk
- Preheat oven to 180 and line muffin tins with paper cases
- Beat together butter and sugar with an electric beater until pale and creamy
- Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
- Stir in flour and milk and spoon into cases
- Bake for 15 minutes until skewer comes out clean
- Take out of muffin pan and cool on a rack
- Ice when cool with vanilla flavoured butter icing and decorate
Anne makes double quantities every time as they are delicious and get snapped up in no time at all.
