The traffic cop we met, munching his lunch alongside the road, had told us we would be lucky to find any guest farms in the area, and it was beginning to look as though he was right.
Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a sign, and skidded to a halt. A winding farm road led a short distance into a valley surrounded by hills. This was exactly what we were looking for… somewhere remote and peaceful.
So we arrived at Glenfinlas Guest Cottage, on the Cathcart-Fort Beaufort road in the Eastern Cape, and checked into a spacious, comfortable thatched rondavel, with two bedrooms, large lounge, and kitchen equipped with every amenity.
Ancient trees rustled in the autumn breeze, leaves scudded across the ground, cattle lowed gently in the pastures, and a stud bull was being hosed down in a nearby paddock.
The surrounding Elandsberg mountains, dressed in russet and a faint hue of lilac, were reminiscent of Scotland.
The pastures, filled with contented cattle, were so lush they had a silver-green hue. There were wonderful walks, including a climb to the hill above the farmhouse, and I encountered crowned cranes, heron and flights of noisy hadedas.
It didn’t take long to learn that what owner Chris Purdon said was true. “We have winter nine months of the year, and three months of severe winter,” he said.
In the morning, a thick blanket of ice coated my vehicle, and life was chilly until the sun rose. Even then, a sneaky wind reminded you who was boss around here – the thermometer apparently sometimes plunges to -14°C and it is not unusual to have snow a metre deep around the house.
Wall heaters, a huge fireplace and beanies to take to bed kept us cosy, though.
Chris, who has about 1 500 Red and Black Angus cattle on Glenfinlas, has twice been president of the South African Angus Council.
He has judged Angus cattle shows as far afield as Australia, Brazil and Zimbabwe and visited New Zealand, England, Scotland, Denmark, Canada and the US on Angus-related events.
He has also won awards for excellence in the beef cattle and stud industry.
All this beef on the hoof means that wife Sally-Jane serves prime steak dinners. She also rustled up a mean quiche, salad and apple crumble, on demand. You can self-cater, or take meals.
Hogsback and Katberg are within easy striking range, and if history is your scene, nearby Fort Beaufort is redolent with garrisons, forts and Xhosa frontier wars.
Chris studied farming at Cedara in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, and the couple’s son, Charlie, is in his third year at the Sharks Academy in Durban.
Sitting before a roaring fire, Chris told me a bit of the family history.
In 1920, Harold Mundell scraped together funds to buy the cheapest farm in the district, an outpost for summer grazing, on marshy land, with no trees and just an outer fence. Because he could afford only half the farm, his brother Owen bought the other part. Friends told them they “would die there, in the mist”.
All went well, though, until the brothers married, and their wives started bickering. In the 1950s, Owen, having refused to sell to Harold, sold his portion to a Conrad Purdon, Chris’s grandfather.
Eventually, Conrad’s son, Brian, spotted Harold’s daughter, Verene, across a farm fence. They married, and when Harold died in 1963, he left his land to Verene. So, in a fairytale ending, the farm again finally became one unit.
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