Clarens - Free State

Our mission:- Princess was asked by a friend of ours to organise his whole wedding! Venue (he selected Clarens for the area), priest, decorations, invites, accommodation, everything. And as he's reasonable well off, it's almost a blank cheque arrangement. What he did say was he's not willing to accept anything but the best (within reason). 20 people, inclusive of the bride and groom.

Having left Mom at the hospital, and then popped in at the Nun's house, we eventually got on the road to Clarens at about 8.35 am. We travelled via Vanderbyjlpark, Sasolburg, Heilbron, Petrus Steyn, Reitz, some other obscure little towns, Bethlehem and finally Clarens. Took us just a little over two and a half hours! Damn but it's real farming country, flat, windswept, desolate. The Free State!

What was apparent in most of these little farming towns is that their reason for their existence, originally to support the big maize / wheat / cattle farmers is no longer the raison de existance! They are really struggling locations. What was also apparent was the explosion in size of every single location (previously black township) comprising of large ares of shack dwellers and large 'Low Cost" housing developments. I cannot imagine where these people are coming from (yes I do understand procreation), and cannot see where they could be finding any form of employment.

Basically they are a drain on the municipal and provincial structures, without actually contributing to the local economy. I know it's not their fault, and I'm not proportioning blame here, only pointing out the obvious, and one reason why the towns seem to be struggling economically. What we did notice was that in each of these little town there were at least 3 if not 4 funeral parlour / service outlets. Now, no matter how the government might deny the problem, but if there is one thing that's driving this business boom, it's AIDS. Talking to some people over the weekend confirmed that the local population is highly affected / infected, and that the death rate is astronomical. However, due to the "ban" on making declarations of cause of death "HIV-AIDS" on death certificates, all of the deaths would be accounted for against some or other disease which is probably caught as a result of the infection.

Bethlehem was unrecognisable. It's grown to 3 maybe even 4 times the size it was when I was last there 28 years ago. I didn't see one thing I recognised, although I didn't drive around looking. We drove in one end, drove through looking for road signs to Clarens, and as soon as we found the turn off, we took it, drove out of town and went on our way. 10km Outside of Clarens we arrived at the place we had booked to stay over at.

Graceland (kinda corny I know, but hey, that's what it's called!) We had a look around, and I took a whole bunch of photo's. it's one of the options for the wedding, so we want to get all the pics we can to show the prospective marriage couple. The chapel is ok, function hall way too big, cold, low ceiling, not well finished. The restaurant area is nice, as is the pub. The private on suite rooms are ok, and there is a honeymoon suite. There are 10 rooms, just as required. There are also chalets on the property. They even have some lions on the property!Personally, I'm not too impressed. We book into our chalet, unpack the little we have, and leave for Clarens and a look at two other venues we have selected off the internet.

We take a walk around the arty little town. there is a lot of development going on, including a residential golf course. Lot's of little art shops, antique stores, some pubs and restaurants. Seems like a few years ago this place was "discovered" by some artistic types, and since then there has been a bit of an exodus into the area.

Anyway, we soon set off for the next venue. It's called Lynnewood. This place is nice. Remember, I've only got Graceland to compare to for now. Apparently they took over the farm a few months ago, and have only been doing weddings and conferences a la Bed and Breakfast for a few weeks.The chapel is not yet completed, but it is going to look nice once it's done. But it's also too big for our purpose. However, the lounge / dining / tv areas are very nice, and with some shuffling could easily accommodate the 20 guests. We can also do the ceremony in this part of the complex. They have a honeymoon suite. It's quite nice, and has a fireplace. There are 3 other on suite rooms, all very nicely finished, with fireplaces. But this leaves us a few rooms short. They have an arrangement with the farmer across the road, who also has a couple of chalets, that if they are short of rooms, they refer their guests to him.

So, a quick visit there, and we have the info we need. Rooms could not be viewed as there were guests staying in them, but the place looks nice, and there are enough rooms for what we need.

Next stop is a place called Oranje. It has four star accreditation from the South African tourist board. An initial look around leaves one with a good impression. We meet with the hostess, who takes us on an initial tour. We sit down inside and she goes through all our options, right down to the flowers, candles, throws...
So organised it's obvious she does this for a living. She gave us copies of the menu options, pricing, made a list of all the things we wanted a quote on, down to arranging the priest. She gave me a copy of her wine list, and if there was a wine we wanted which was not on the list, she would source it for us. The chapel is way too big, but the ceremony can be held on the front lawns, which although brown right now as it's winter, still looked "attractive". Alternatively it can be held on the front porch (it can seat 60 guests!), or, if the weather is really bad, Inside, in the area we will be using for the reception.The rooms, all en suite are great, although a bit cold, but all have good heating systems. Overall a very impressive venue, and the one I would select. Only problem is that the date selected by the couple is taken! and so we tentatively booked the weekend before.

I hope that they will make the change required, as it is the best venues by far. Only problem could be that the grooms partner who is coming out from the UK has made his travel arrangements already, and getting that changed might be a problem.

We drove back to Clarens town, and stopped in at a pub/restaurant. We had to eat out as the Graceland chef was off for this weekend, so they were not serving meals. But, it was ok as it turned out they had a big screen TV so we could watch the rugby - SA v Oz - and we won! And the food was damn good.

After that we drove towards Graceland, stopping only for a few minutes to look at the site where the water which is piped from the Lesotho Highland water project for miles under through the mountain, eventually spills into the Ash river.

It's quite a site, more so because all that cold, crisp water started out a long way away as snow! Then on to Graceland, where we went to the chalet. Damn this place is cold. We left the oil heater and wall panel heaters on before we left earlier, and it's only just taken the chill off the air. Switched on the electric blankets, and the family watched TV till about 10pm., whilst I wrote this, and the summary of Mom's condition, and some of part two of my SADF story. (That might turn into a book).

So, next morning we book out of there, drive to Bethlehem and stop there for some breakfast at the Wimpy. Refueled the bus, and asked a couple of people about the military base in the middle of town. Two people didn't know it had ever existed, and one gave me the impression it had closed down, and relocated to the camp we had built in '77!!

So, no more camp, but I will go and have a look on Google Earth to confirm. Then we drove back home, back to Mom who was still in hospital, and to my brother, and to start putting together the options for the couple to be.

Salagatle!