Welcome to Napierlife.co.za – partly personal blog and mostly a sharing of all the people, splendours, quirks and delights that Napier and the surrounding region offer. Think of it as love story meets travel guide.
I knew it was time to move on when the youngest of my four grown children started packing his belongings. I was gutted and relieved in almost equal measure. If mothering is heaven, then heaven is hard. But it was all I had known and loved beyond all else for almost forty years.
Our family home was an increasingly tatty 1938 house opposite an increasingly dodgy park in Orange Grove, Johannesburg. I loved that house like a sister. We knew each other intimately and (more or less) accepted each other’s idiosyncrasies. It leaked, it creaked, it leaned, yet oh boy did it have the best back stoep in the hood. But it was now too big and too old and too expensive to maintain (a bit like her owner?) Time to move on.
One entire yet-to-be-written memoir later, my house was quickly sold (for tips on how to do achieve that, click here), I moved in with the world’s most tolerant friend, and was on the hunt for a new, just me, home.
But to where? Whence to?
My initial criteria:
No too big and not too small.
Must be able to buy for cash and afford any alterations.
Somewhere beautiful.
Well maintained area.
Driving distance from Joburg.
Well that search lasted a mere few months. I couldn’t find anywhere that made my heart sing. The properties either required too much work or were situated in places that weren’t right for me.
Time, I thought, to expand my horizons. So I spent weeks trawling property24.com and privateproperty.co.za. I explored maps and weather patterns and sought the advice of friends, family and anyone who would listen. Ultimately, I realised I would have to venture much further away from my children. And all signs pointed to the Western Cape, even though I was convinced I couldn’t afford to live there.
I was wrong.
I’ve now lived in Napier for close on three years. Moving on my own from the Highveld to the Overberg during the height of Covid lockdown is a tale on its own; but for now, let’s just say it was the biggest self-directed adventure of my life – one which has had its challenges, but also immense rewards. And those rewards are all about the people, the skies and spaces, the bliss of walking out of my front gate and up into the hills. They are also about dealing with a collapsing economy, shrinking job market, a global malaise – and the need to find another way to live. To be.
But let me not get ahead of myself.
Welcome to the Overberg. Welcome to NapierLife.co.za.
Yours from the dorp,
Shelagh
PS: Yes, my family and friends do come to visit. Now to get some of them to move here…