MY NEW LIFE IN STANFORD Country life, fresh air and new friends

Writer: Lanie van Reenen (Interior Decorator)

Isuppose the country life seed had been germinating somewhere in the back of my mind. It may have happened while sitting in bumper-tobumper traffic noticing the grime and decay and unattractiveness of a big city, internalising the impatient rush and hurry of a metropolis. Or the feeling of being swallowed by anonymity behind the high walls of my apartment, only now and then nodding a hallo to neighbours before they too disappeared behind their own high walls.

I always thought of myself as a city girl, never second-guessing it. Where else would I live?

And so, I surprised myself when my son Nicolaas asked me, holding up a picture of a white-washed cottage on the Property24 App, “Mom could you live in Stanford?” And me saying, “Yes!” with conviction and certainty. Just like that!

We had not been looking for a house in Stanford. We were doing what we always did after a happy family holiday, idly thinking about acquiring our own “huisie by die see.” This time we qualified the location; it should be within a two-hour drive from Cape Town - which leaves you with Rooi Els, Pringle Bay and Betties. All lovely, expensive and windy! For good measure, the Property24 App threw Stanford into the search. Clever algorithms!

I remember the day in early October 2020, when my friend and I drove into Stanford on a late afternoon. A halo of soft pink and gold light hung above the village, the mountains beyond hazy and green. A couple were walking their dog, children were playing in the street, a few fishermen on the bank of the river had their lines in the water. A benevolent hand on my back had moved me here. The cottage advertised on Property24 was perfect – a fixer-upper at a price we could afford. I knew instinctively what renovations it needed.

The project went smoothly thanks to a local builder, Andrew Dunsdan, whose brother-in-law at the local Buco had recommended him, upon my enquiry after a builder in Stanford. My children and grandchildren came over on weekends to help. And after five months, over a happy weekend in early August 2021, we unpacked everything that had been sitting in storage in the loft and I moved in.

I have to admit to a moment of panic though, upon waking up on the first Monday in my new house, in my country life, in a village where I knew no-one. Anticipating a little wobble, I had had the foresight to find out about yoga classes and had booked the early morning session. Yoga people are my people. After the class I heard the teacher discussing the 12 o’ clock pick-up for swimming in a dam on a nearby farm. Grabbing her arm I asked, please can I come along? I would have pleaded.

So began my happy life in Stanford; yoga leading to swimming, leading to paddling, leading to hiking, leading to book clubs (two!), leading to music evenings, leading to a garden-club, leading to sewing circles and a full moon walk around a labyrinth. And all along making new friends and revelling in all the goodwill and kindness, the easy pace, and the gentle flow of things. But, most importantly, a lot of exquisite alone time, often with a glass of wine pondering chance and benevolence and making acquaintance with the best version of myself to date.

I read these two random Instagram quotes, and they resonated: “It happens. One day you wake up and you are in this place, this place where everything seems right. Your head is calm, your soul is lit, your thoughts are positive, your vision is clear. You are at peace – at peace with where you’ve been, at peace with what you’ve been through and at peace with where you are headed.”