Stuurmansfontein: A Corbelled House in the Great Karoo

by | Jul 30, 2024 | Lodging, Northern Cape | 14 comments

It was a blustery winter afternoon on my 50th birthday. The Blogitects were headed to Stuurmansfontein, an iconic corbelled house in the middle of the Great Karoo, and I was super excited. But the sun was sinking fast and I was also starting to freak out.

Thorsten was driving on an unmarked gravel road; we’d hardly seen another vehicle, or even a person, all day. The GPS had been “re-routing” for hours since we disobeyed its instruction to turn down what appeared to be a private farm track. There was no cell signal.

Lost in the Karoo
Self-explanatory.

I peered at the map book in my lap, studying a bunch of light gray lines that theoretically represented roads. Perhaps we were currently driving on one of them…I couldn’t be sure.

“We just need to make it to Vanwyksvlei,” I said, pointing to the only “town” — represented by a tiny white circle — on what I hoped was the correct page of the map book. “Then we can get some GPS signal…and hopefully find a petrol station.” Greylene’s fuel gauge had dipped a bit too low for Thorsten’s comfort.

We laughed nervously, joking before every rise that the great metropolis of Vanwyksvlei would surely fan out in front of us at any moment. Eventually we stopped laughing.

Lessons learned: Don’t rely on your GPS or your map book when driving through the Great Karoo. Plan your route carefully in advance and stick to roads with actual names/numbers. Perhaps most importantly: Fill up your tank at every town you pass through, whether your car needs it or not.

Refueling in Vanwyksvlei
Refueling at what has to be South Africa’s strangest and loneliest petrol station in the tiny town of Vanwyksvlei (pronounced fan-VAKES-flay).

At long last we found Vanwyksvlei, which, while certainly no metropolis, did have GPS signal and a petrol station. And we finally arrived at Stuurmansfontein, albeit a couple of hours later than planned. I was sad we didn’t arrive earlier — every moment counts in this extraordinary place — but just happy we made it. Even on the coldest day of the year in the coldest part of South Africa, Stuurmansfontein was stunning.

Stuurmansfontein.
Sketch of Stuurmansfontein
One of many interpretations of Stuurmansfontein by @TheThinking_Hand.

What Is a Corbelled House?

Thorsten and I are both fascinated by corbelled houses and had been wanting to visit one for years. “Corbelling” describes a type of vernacular architecture in which beehive-shaped huts were built completely out of stone, because there was little or no wood available, using stone circles that grow progressively smaller as the building grows taller. The distinctive rings of protruding stones served as built-in scaffolding, allowing people to complete and maintain the buildings without ladders. Corbelled houses are often white-washed, giving them an igloo-like appearance.

The Stuurmansfotein corbelled house has two beehives: one for the lounge (living room) and a smaller one for the bedroom. The more conventional rectangular buildings were added later.
Architectural drawing of a corbelled house
Thorsten’s architectural sketch of Stuurmansfontein.

Corbelling is believed to have originated thousands of years ago in the Mediterranean; examples still stand in Italy, France, and Spain, among other places. South Africa’s corbelled houses were built by the early “Trekboers” — the first Afrikaners to venture north from what is now the Western Cape — starting somewhere around 1820 into the middle of the 1800s. As far as historians know, corbelling in South Africa only took place in a relatively small square of the Karoo, around the towns of Williston, Carnarvon, Loxton, and Fraserburg.

No one knows how this style of building made its way to South Africa, or if it perhaps developed totally independently from its igloo-like cousins in the Northern Hemisphere. No one even knows exactly who built the houses, or exactly when, or why only in this particular area. I’m enchanted by the multi-layered mysteries surrounding these strange, beautiful buildings.

Charmaine and Piet Botha, who own the farm where Stuurmansfontein still stands (Charmaine and Piet live in a modern house about five kilometers from the corbelled house), have done an incredible job restoring Stuurmansfontein, and they’ve been renting it out as a holiday house since the 1990s. I spotted it on Airbnb a year or two ago and had been yearning to visit ever since.

Heather at Stuurmansfontein
I finally made it. (Photo: Thorsten Deckler)
Greylene and Stuurmansfontein
Portrait of Greylene and Stuurmansfontein.

I’ve traveled to a lot of wild, far-flung places in South Africa (including Augrabies Falls, which we departed from that very morning). But there is something about Stuurmansfontein that makes it feel further from civilization, and the modern world, than anywhere else I’ve been. I think it’s the corbelled house itself — which still functions much as it did 200 years ago — that made me feel that way. The otherworldly architecture is a reminder that, although people have been living in the Karoo for a long time, life in this vast, arid landscape has never been easy.

Our Stay at Stuurmansfontein

We arrived at the farm just before sunset, picked up the keys from Charmaine (who is, of course, delightful), and drove out to Stuurmansfontein.

Sunset on Stuurmansfontein
The sun was just setting against the back of the house when we arrived.

My first priority was to take photos inside before the evening light faded completely. We quickly lit all the candles in the house, as Stuurmansfontein doesn’t have electricity. (There is also no cell phone signal or wifi, which we’d been warned of and greatly enjoyed.)

Stuurmansfontein dining room.
The dining room. The cutting board on the table had a loaf of freshly baked sourdough, a jar of the best olives I’ve ever tasted (grown and preserved on the farm), and a package of homemade brownies to celebrate my birthday.
Bedroom at Stuurmansfontein
The bedroom, which I think is the nicest room in the house. I loved lying in bed and looking up at that beautiful stone dome.
Kitchen at Stuurmansfontein
The kitchen (photographed the next morning). Water comes from a tap just outside the door, pumped from a natural spring. We kept that old-school iron stove (the house’s only built-in heat source — corbelled houses don’t have fireplaces) burning all day.
Lounge at Stuurmansfontein
The lounge.
Bathroom at Stuurmansfontein
The bathroom, which is a five-second outdoor walk from the bedroom. It also has a great bathtub but I couldn’t fit that into the picture.

Stuurmansfontein is on a sheep farm, and Charmaine offers visitors delicious “braai baskets” with free-range lamb and all the food you need to make a gourmet braai. I had ordered a braai basket, but the winter wind was far too strong to cook outside over a fire that night. So Charmaine came to the rescue and cooked us an amazing dinner in her own kitchen, which she delivered to us complete with heated plates. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday feast.

Dinner at Stuurmansfontein
Lamb shoulder, roasted butternut, and potato-herb bake, accompanied by a nice bottle of bubbly that we brought with us. There was apple cake for dessert. Yes, it was cold, but there was a gas heater, hot water bottles, and we came prepared with our warmest clothes. I couldn’t have been happier.

We woke up to a misty, windy sunrise and spent the morning hanging around the house, drinking coffee and hot chocolate, taking photos and sketching, and reading articles about corbelled houses in the Stuurmansfontein information book. Later in the day we drove up to Charmaine and Piet’s house (which has wifi) to check our messages, then went for a walk in the dry riverbed that winds through the farm.

Early morning at Stuurmansfontein
Early morning on my way back from the bathroom. I was constantly amazed by the eerie light and the sky at Stuurmansfontein — they changed constantly.
Coffee at Stuurmansfontein
Morning coffee.
Flowers at Stuurmansfontein
Fresh flowers and greenery were everywhere, even in the middle of winter. I don’t know how Charmaine does it.
Glass bottles at Stuurmansfontein
Ancient glass bottles found on the property.
Stuurmansfontein
I never tired of photographing the house from every possible angle.
Stuurmansfontein from far away
Another look.
Thorsten in the riverbed
Thorsten in the riverbed, where he enjoyed skipping stones and searching for dassie and tortoise skeletons.
Heather in the riverbed
Photo: Thorsten Deckler

We were treated to a fiery sunset that evening. The next morning — our last morning at Stuurmansfontein — the wind finally died down enough for us to walk around comfortably outside and use the outdoor shower.

Sunset at Stuurmansfontein
Sunset. Can you spot the sliver of moon?
Sunset
The sky got better and better.
Thorsten at Stuurmansfontein
The next morning. I’m not sure why I made Thorsten pose in the doorway holding a spatula. (He was in the middle of making breakfast.) I think I was just excited that it was warm enough to open the top half of the door.
Thorsten in the shower
I also convinced Thorsten to pose for me in the outdoor shower. There are actually two outdoor showers at Stuurmansfontein: This one adjoins “the Shed”, the outbuilding behind the corbelled house that Charmaine and Piet have also converted into a lovely accommodation unit.
Stuurmansfontein from behind
Last look at the house from behind.

And that was the end of our time at Stuurmansfontein. This is one of the nicest and most unique self-catering experiences I’ve ever had in South Africa — I wish we could have stayed for a week.

A few final notes:

  1. Stuurmansfontein is pet-friendly and you can book it on my friend Dee’s new pet-friendly accommodation website, holidaydog.co.za. Stuurmansfontein is also listed on Airbnb and Lekkeslaap. It costs R1500 (about $80!) per night for two people.
  2. The gravel road to Stuurmansfontein is in good condition and drivable in any car.
  3. Although it’s obviously too cold to use during winter, Stuurmansfontein has a lovely, farm-dam-style swimming pool.
  4. Stuurmansfontein has zero light pollution and is one of the best places in South Africa for stargazing.
  5. As mentioned previously, plan your route carefully and don’t rely on Google Maps to get you to Stuurmansfontein. I recommend navigating first to the nearest town — either Williston or Carnarvon, depending on where you’re coming from — and then setting your GPS to Stuurmansfontein from there (or just follow the directions that Charmaine provides).
  6. If you like the Karoo and beautiful old stuff, GO.
Sketch of Stuurmansfontein
The end.

14 Comments

  1. Albert

    Wow. This looks amazing. And the cobelling looks in really good order.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      The whole place is literally perfect!

      Reply
  2. dizzylexa

    Amazing capture of the place. The Karoo can be unforgiving with the cold, so well done.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      We noticed that cold weather seems way more tolerable when you’re on holiday 🙂

      Reply
  3. Ms. Nancy Anne McDaniel

    wow, what a beautiful place. The Karoo is a part of SOuth Africa I have never visited and have always wanted to (especially Nieuw Bethesda and Graaf Reinet…and now this!!!) Thanks for sharing…and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Thanks Nancy. Nieu Bethesda and Graaf Reinet area also very beautiful and interesting places.

      Reply
  4. Peter

    Absolutely stunning. I love passing some of the more primitive corbelled houses en route to the Burn. I presume the outside stones, which gives it its unique character, are functional. I would imagine the builder would need them as ” steps ” during the building process ?

    Reply
  5. Angus

    That really is a beautiful part of South Africa. I read somewhere that the corbelled building style was used in areas where timber (that is substantial enough to support a roof), is in short supply.

    In remote areas, you need a GPS that uses satellite signals rather than cell network.

    Thanks, a lovely write-up! Keep them coming 🙂

    Reply
    • 2summers

      Yep, that’s exactly right.

      Reply
  6. AutumnAshbough

    Such a cool building and ceiling! Normally I think one picture is sufficient, but I enjoyed ALL the exterior photos. It looks marvelously isolated.

    Reply
    • 2summers

      I probably would have taken twice as many photos of the house if it hadn’t been so freaking cold outside. Probably for the best!

      Reply
  7. Lani

    Absolutely charming! Thanks for introducing us to Corbelling ~ and Happy 50th, Heather!

    Reply

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