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Wildcliff
Nature Reserve
Dedicated to
plant and wildlife conservation in South Africa's Cape Floral Kingdom
The
Heron House
  The Heron House
provides accommodation for
Wildcliff volunteers. The house underwent a full renovation in 2007.
The renovation was designed and supervised by Ann Thomas, a
friend from Plettenberg Bay. The aim was to make the house a simple but
attractive place for researchers to live and work. Heron House has a
bathroom, kitchen, and living/dining room, as well as a lab area. It
can accommodate 5 volunteers in three bedrooms.
Before the
renovation, Heron House had no plumbing, electricity, communications or
fittings. The fireplace did not function, and beetles had rendered much
of the framing precarious. Removing the ceilings and beams allowed us
to discover a little about the history of the house.
The older
part, on the east side, consisted of two rooms. These are now the
bathroom, kitchen and living room. The construction method and
materials suggested that this two-room house dated back a century or
more. The walls were made of home-made mud bricks, three bricks thick.
The windows were small. The roof framing, old yellowwood beams, were
beyond rescuing, as they were riddled with borer beetles. Between the
ceiling and the roof were thick layers of reeds, for insulation.
History books tell us that this was the traditional method in the
nineteeth century. The beams and rotting reeds were removed and the
present, higher, ceiling installed.
 In the
not-too-distant past, perhaps in the 1950s or 1960s, the building was
extended to its present size. We have been told that a previous
owner’s
farmworker built the 3-room brick extension from a pile of bricks left
there by his employer.
Some features of our
renovation are worth noting. Underneath the tiles the floors are
concrete, protected from ground moisture by a plastic vapor barrier.
The ceilings have built-in insulation. The walls of the old house are
framed in with wood, helping support the structure. The alcove above
the kitchen counter was once an outdoor window. The interior as well as
the exterior walls, including the fireplace and chimney, have been
plastered over with cement, offering greater protection and a pleasing
look. Peter built all the cabinetry. The electrical wiring and the
water supply has been brought underground across the meadow to the
east, and then across the donga. The water comes from the mountain.
With a backup water supply (from roof runoff) and gas heat and cooking,
as well as a woodburning stove, Heron House is designed to be
self-sufficient. (More photos)
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The Weavers' Nest
Visitors
who come to Wildcliff for wildlife observation or to help with the
conservation effort may be invited to stay in the Weaver's Nest,
a
2-bedroom wooden cottage built in July 2007. For self-catering
accommodation info, click
here.
From the deck, one looks
north up the Wildekrantz
valley; below the house is Talari meadow and
in the
distance, the majestic ridge of the Langeberg mountain range.
(More
photos)
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Talari
Talari
is the name of the old farmhouse, used by generations of
farmers and
now the residence of the owners and trustees of the Wild Cape Nature
Trust. Renovations to this house were underway in 2007-2008.
Below the house, we are nurturing a variety or flora in and around the
new Island
Pond, designed to attract birds and other wildlife. The
pond
can easily be viewed from the front porch.
(More photos)
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