WINTER VOLUNTEERS

During winter we had quite a few volunteers. From France we had Yoan who helped us with wine marketing, and a little later Sophie and Valentin, also French, picked lemons and made our limoncello.  From the US came Patrick and John who helped us with carpentry, gardening and wine work, and throughout this time Deidre, a South African volunteer, has helped us with our data base and social media. Damian, Deidre’s son came too – to the delight of us all. 

Many volunteers keep in contact with us, and this week we received news and pictures of the wedding of Andy and Becky who some 5 years back came for six weeks and stayed (with some road trips in between) for six months.

From top left clockwise: Valentin picks lemons, Sophie and Valentin making limoncello, Yoan labels wine and Patrick making tables.

From top left clockwise: Yoan marketing wine, Gail and Damian, Deirdre works on the data base, patrick and John stalks Boris the Baboon, John with antique farm implement and Sharing a meal.

Andy & Becky's wedding.

Some comments

From Yoan
For my comment I will write it in french: Je suis allé à Fynbos Estate pendant deux mois en Juin 2014. J'étais en Afrique du Sud pour plusieurs raisons, ma passion pour le vin et aussi le rêve de visiter ce grand pays. J'ai donc passé deux mois avec Johan, Diana mais aussi Gail! Mon arrivée s'est super passée, ils ont été très accueillants, très gentils et ont tout faits pour que je m'adapte le plus rapidement à cette nouvelle vie. Ils m'ont donné beaucoup de conseils pour démarrer mon "road trip". Le cadre est magnifique, la ferme est placée au pied d'une montagne dans un cadre naturel fabuleux, tout est pour qu'on s'y sente bien. J'ai beaucoup aimé l'approche qu'ils avaient par rapport à la nature et cette envie de vivre dans un endroit sain. Je ne sais trop comment décrire cette expérience que je me rappellerai toute ma vie et qui fut une des plus belles de ma vie.

From Sophie and Valentin
Our stay as volunteers in Fynbos estate was the best we could think of. We were two people, staying for a month in July. First we would like to point out the fact that the hosts are amazingly nice and welcoming, and that they did everything to make us feel comfortable. Also the whole place is like a wonderland so it’s really a pleasure to be a volunteer here. The work is very diversified, from gardening to home improvement, wine labelling, as the best of all: processing lemons! The only thing we were mad about is not to be here for summer, and all the excitement about the weddings and guests welcoming!
The beautiful landscapes, the creativity of the hosts and all the DIY ideas… this stay gave us a new energy when going back in France. Once again Diana and Johan, we hope we were useful and this experience will stay in our memories as an amazing one!!
PS I want to say something about the cute donkeys but i don’t t know how to bring this fact...

From John Lindner
I had a wonderful experience at Fynbos. Diana, Johan, and Gail are fantastic to work with. I learned a lot and from my month at the farm and would recommend the experience to any and all prospective WOOFers.
I hope everything else is going well and please give my regards to Johan and Gail.