Arty, foodie garden heaven in Eastern Cape

With an unofficial slogan of “No thirst like Bathurst”, it’s no surprise that a small, historic settlement in the Eastern Cape is jocularly referred to as “a drinking village with a farming problem”.

Had it not been for a snap decision by then-governor of the Cape Colony, Lord Charles Somerset, Bathurst would have been the district’s administrative capital instead of Grahamstown (Makhanda), 40km to the northwest.

For those relatively few people who have ventured the 13km up the R67 from Port Alfred, Bathurst is known chiefly for two things; the world’s biggest (manmade) pineapple and the legendary Pig and Whistle Inn.

I have visited both on occasion – always, however, in passing – and the last time I was there with my partner Rose-Marie a couple of years ago, we agreed it would be worth spending a couple of nights to explore the village more thoroughly.

The inn’s owners, Gavin and Lucille Came, were more than happy to open their doors and hearts to us (in true Eastern Cape fashion, even though they’re from Gauteng) and suggested we arrive in time for Sunday lunch on the stoep.

The Legendary Pig and Whistle

The Pig and Whistle is known throughout the Albany district for the quality and conviviality of this midday repast and it draws repeat diners from Grahamstown, Bushmansriver, Kenton-on-Sea and Port Alfred.

It is also a regular stop for local motorcyclists on their weekly breakfast runs. Lunch, as it tends to do in Bathurst, developed into a hooley with a variety of locals and visitors, and we were glad we only had to mount a single flight of stairs to our room while our fellow life-celebrants staggered off into the night.

Old though the Inn might be (it was built in 1831 and features the oldest cotinuously licensed pub in South Africa), the Pig has been extensively renovated in the 14 years it has been in the hands of Gavin and Lucille, and is exceptionally comfortable without losing its “country hotel” character.

So well did we sleep that we did not hear a truck suffer brake failure virtually outside our window early the next morning, ultimately depositing its load of bricks into the veld.

There are only two tar roads in Bathurst, which adds a bucolic air Village could’ve been a city Arty, foodie garden heaven in E Cape to the village, something that is accentuated by a sign urging visitors to the nearly 200-year-old Methodist Church to “close gate on account of cattle”.

The church and Bathurst Inn were both built by Thomas Hartley, a blacksmith who arrived from England with the 1820 Settlers, to whom Bathurst owes its existence.

It is further reported that the first Methodist service was held in Hartley’s forge in 1825. (The nearby St John’s Anglican Church is the oldest unaltered Church of the Province of Southern Africa and served as a shelter for Bathurst residents on several occasions until the conclusion of the frontier wars with the amaXhosa in 1878.

During these attacks, the inn was repeatedly looted and burned.) Hartley died in 1840* and the running of the inn was taken on by his wife Sarah, whereafter it was commonly referred to as “Widow Hartley’s Place” till her death 10 years later.

The fame of the inn grew during her period as proprietor and guests included Hong Kong governor-general Sir Henry Pottinger, explorer-artist Thomas Baines and governor of the Cape Colony Sir Harry Smith.

Widow Hartley is said to be the “lady in the blue dress” that purportedly haunts the inn.

The Pig and Whistle acquired its current name during World War II when a group of homesick British officers from 43 Flying School outside Port Alfred were billeted there. They unofficially renamed the place the Pig and Whistle after their local back home and the name stuck.

The Pig is probably the biggest tourist drawcard to the village (population under 500 people) but there is enough to be done to justify a stay of two or three nights.

Exploring Bathurst’s hidden gems

For a start, there are two other pubs that are frequented more by locals, several good restaurants and a number of craft shops, book stores and galleries of various ilk.

The Big Pineapple, sadly, was a bit of a disappointment because of a dearth of pineapple products. Although Bathurst is the centre of the local pineapple farming industry, most of the fruit is earmarked for export.

Among the interesting residents we met were Tom Barrett, a retired British civil servant who oversaw aid projects in Southern Africa, and his wife Alisson. As head of the Bathurst Historical Society, Tom showed us through the historic Bradshaw’s Mill.

Built by brothers Samuel and Richard Bradshaw between 1821 and 1829, it was the only water-powered textile mill built in South Africa and is recognised as the starting point of the woollen textile industry in this country.

The mill was destroyed by fire in 1835 during the Sixth Frontier War but was rebuilt as a grain mill about 20 years later.

It was abandoned in the 1880s and lay derelict until 1964, when it was acquired by the Simon van der Stel Foundation and declared a national monument six years later.

In front of St John’s Church and away from the rest of the graveyard is a large tomb that is literally above the ground.

“The story goes,” says Gavin, “that Hartley renounced his Anglican faith to join the Methodists but underwent a deathbed crisis of faith.

“He asked that he be allowed to rejoin the Anglican Church, a request that was subsequently approved by the church council on condition that he ‘not be buried in Anglican soil’.”

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