The Fairworld Fine Wool Museum was established by Willem van Aardt to commemorate the History of a Century of the Fairworld Merino Stud. The Museum not only tells the story of Fine Wool breeding in South Africa in general, but also the History of the van Aardt family. For 219 years, from 1797 to 2016, the Van Aardts farmed at Roodewal near Cookhouse. In 2016 they sold the farm and moved their whole farming operation to Mulberry Grove Farm north of Cradock.

The museum is set in an old shearing shed still faintly scented with a comforting lanolin whiff of sheep’s wool. The museum contains, among others, old photographs of the Van Aardt family, wooden carts used a century ago, Willem’s father’s World War 1 medals, wool presses of various vintages and provenance, shears, dosing spoons, every cutting on the Van Aardt family’s Merino fine wool stud Fairworld, the old cream separators and butter churns that belonged to Willem’s grandfather, the whittled wooden cigarette boxes made by his father’s Italian prisoner of war friends, ancient gunpowder dispensers, a transistor radio that once brought the world to Roodewal, the musical compositions of Madelein van Aardt, one of the very first microwave ovens ever made, venerable christening dresses and pictures of two beloved carthorses called Melck and Monarch.

Mulberry Farm is located about 45km from Cradock on the way to Middelburg. The museum can be found about 3km off the N10 at the Fish River Station.
Visits only by appointment by phoning 0732578048 (Acton) or 082 855 5563 (Elize) a day or two in advance.

Read this excellent article on the museum by Julienne Du Toit – https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-08-30-flocking-to-a-sheep-museum-in-the-karoo/

Van Aardt Family & Fine Wool Museum on Facebook