An escape into the country can often be the best elixir

It is always a little strange making the short journey to the Cradle of Humankind. It’s a mere 40-minute drive from Johannesburg and yet it feels like a pilgrimage of sorts: as if, upon crossing Beyers Naudé Drive, life takes on a different frequency as you wind your way further along the undulating landscape with its caverns and fossils that have earned it the reputation as the birthplace of humanity.  

It is precisely this setting that acts as the canvas for what has become Farmhouse 58, the first 21-room accommodation project under the wider project58 — described as a community driven by co-creation, wellness and connection in the Cradle of Humankind — which includes the Nirox Arts Centre. It’s a place that extends a simple invitation: “reconnect with yourself, others and nature”.

With this purpose in mind, the design of the space was influenced by the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi and the emphasis it places on authenticity, impermanence and the beauty of rawness, nature and imperfection.

The original structure was a dairy farm before it was later used as a publishing house and then restored into what it is today; repurposing what was while retaining its character.

Drawing from this aesthetic philosophy, the rooms have been designed with a minimalistic approach. Beds are perched on a concrete base offset against earthy tones of beige and woody brown. Straw hats repurposed as lamp shades cast a soft glow in the uncluttered space, and white linens invite peaceful slumber. The result is practical yet inviting — a space to rest before turning your attention to the world outside.

Emerging from your room, a rustic footpath runs between the shade of a giant river bushwillow tree and a young  orchard of pomegranate trees, leading the way to the reception and communal area with bountiful couches and a coffee station.

There is a painting nook, a large table for a gathering, a chess set, guitar and fireplace for colder nights. Some of the books that were once published on the property can be found lining bookshelves in the loft, from where gentle sunlight filters through slender windows: a space to read or perhaps work beyond the rushed confines of life.

But most of the magic that makes Farmhouse what it is happens beyond these walls: in the food gardens, to be exact. To learn more, I joined Paul Boyter for a tour to see what the team has been creating.

Boyter worked in the space of interactive drumming for 20 years. He was a hobbyist gardener but when Covid hit, his focus shifted. He now moonlights as a musician and farms during the day. He’s working with the team at Farmhouse — experimenting, training, learning from them and imparting his own wisdom, with the aim of passing on the torch to the members of the local community who tend to the gardens.

At the time of our visit spring was in full swing. The rows of broccoli had just run their course and radishes were popping up. As we moved between garden beds, Boyter pointed out crops they had recently harvested, what they had just planted and the growing plants they were carefully tending to.

We passed pungent wild garlic flowers, purple mustard and a great variety of lettuce. The goal is to grow seasonally and organically, making use of companion planting to keep pests at bay and implementing regenerative farming practices to rejuvenate the soil.

“Around the world small subsistence farming, off-grid living and more internalised systems were born during Covid. People recognised the need to connect,” Boyter explained, brushing the soil from a carrot he had just pulled from the earth. “Everything around 58 is recognising the relationship with people and land. Learning how to relate to the land and each other and inviting others to be part of the process.”

Guests can join Boyter for mindful harvests, using the opportunity to learn about the gardens and foraging for produce to take home. The gardens also supply Farmhouse’s restaurant and the magnificent eatery And then there was Fire across the road at Nirox.

Naturally, the focus of the food served at the Shed — the on-site restaurant — is largely plant-based, though meat eaters won’t feel neglected. The soil-to-plate approach translates as fresh, vibrant meals: salads full of seasonal greens and sandwiches for lunch; penne arrabiata, vegetable curry, grilled chicken with veggies, cauliflower steak and beetroot soup for dinner. It’s tasty food that nourishes without feeling weighed down.

Wine is a pricey commodity you can supplement with homemade kombucha, iced tea and ginger beer. And on particularly hot afternoons you’ll find the freshest juices — made with produce from the gardens — at the juice bar in the lapa.

On the wellness side of things, there are opportunities for breathwork or meditation at the waterfall and restorative sessions of morning yoga in the shala, bathed in dappled shade against and the backdrop of birdsong.

A visit to Farmhouse will be incomplete without a sunrise or sunset hike with Lesego Mapeka, who discovered his life’s passion when he started Epic Hikes during the pandemic. His hikes, or contemplative walks, as he likes to call them, are punctuated with moments of reflection, of pulling the occasional card from his pocket and posing questions that are meant to probe and create dialogue. Questions like “who holds the validation you seek?”

Along the way you’re likely to pass zebra and wildebeest as you snake your way through the highveld grassland to the top of the property and the mysterious Sun (W)Hole sculpture that dominates the skyline.

Made by Moroccan artist Amine El Gotaibi, the wall was made using rammed earth technology, a technique that compresses ground into a cement-like structure that will eventually disintegrate. As Mapeka says, “we spend all our time creating permanent structures when we ourselves aren’t permanent human beings”.

In using the rammed earth technology, he’s asking us to envision a unified Africa with no man-made borders and no divisions.

It’s a technique that’s been used for a number of buildings on the property and circles back to the ideals of impermanence, rawness and imperfection.

When the wall was first built its surface was smooth. About three years later, it’s already weathered and worn down — a poignant reminder, once again, that in this fleeting life, nothing is permanent.

Rates start from R1,560 per night for two people, breakfast included. To book, click Farmhouse58 .

• Oberholzer was a guest of Farmhouse 58