About Armagh Country Lodge
Armagh Country Lodge & Spa
In 1992 Johan and I had already purchased two plots in the Village of Storms River facing the Tsitsikamma Mountain range with the idea that we would develop them later in our lives. At that stage we were living in Cape Town
Why Storms River Village?
Far away from civilization as it appeared then, it was actually the home of Johan’s parents and the whole family had been spending 5 weeks every Christmas from 1968 camping at the Tsitsikamma National Park. When Johan’s parents subsequently retired they decided to leave Cape Town and move up here building in the Village 20 years ago.One fateful morning in March 1993 my son from Australia telephoned us and said he was ready to come to build our dream home, and, as it evolved our Guest House. Wow! We suddenly had to move fast, sell our business and our house in Cape Town. December 1993 found us in two heavily laden vehicles travelling with a furniture removal Truck heading for a Village in the Eastern Cape largely unknown to most people at that stage. I remember that Stephen my son said as we drove and drove and drove; “Mum! Why could you at least not have chosen somewhere closer to Cape Town and definitely before the Toll gates!!?”
After spending a wonderful Christmas together, work began in earnest. By March we were in Cape Town seeing Stephen off to America and we returned to the bare bones of the house with the driving ambition to be in by April 01 and in we were with cement floors, walls to be painted, cupboards to be installed, kitchen to be designed and made - with extremely fast foot work we were open for business with two rooms ready for Guest occupation by August 12 1994. A momentous and proud day for all of us.
In a whirl of work Johan and myself were cooks, bottle washers, chamber maids marketing fundis, public relations officers, gardeners, painters, decorators. Multi-tasking took on a whole new meaning. There were no off days and no holidays; just long hours and constant planning ahead. What a hugely steep learning curve.
Remember in those days nothing was delivered; we drove for everything, tiles for the floors, paint for the walls, even the beds and baths we had to transport ourselves. Ingredients for recipes, fresh vegetables had to be purchased in Plettenberg Bay - one of us had to drive and the other had to look after the Guest House.
As The Armagh grew our private space shrank and shrank. We moved from one room to the next and finally found ourselves out in the hitherto operations cabin. This we eventually extended adding a Bathroom and lounge, but soon the Guests were eyeing that as a potential place to enjoy. We were fortunate to find a tiny cottage in the Village and so we moved off the premises in 2004. We had begun to hire and train some of the local people to help us, organic vegetables were being grown in the Village, big companies started to notice the developments in the Tsitsikamma and our shopping loads became lighter!
What a superb journey we have had! the highlight being the absolutely superb guests we have met some of whom have returned as many as 10 times.
Having travelled a long road ourselves, we are aiming to share this experience with our own continent of Africa, to further train and support our local community and to endeavour to use increasingly green principles to save our beautiful planet with all it’s amazing people - a cross section of whom we have already had the privilege to meet and enjoy right here in our Guest House in Storms river!
