History of De Molen
De Molen originally formed part of the freehold land that was granted to Willem Adriaan Van der Stel, the new governor of the Cape in the 1600´s.
In 1917 the English family Mill named the fruit farm ‘De Molen’ (Dutch for ‘The Mill”). De Molen operated as a citrus farm until the 1970’s.
In those days, the building looked very different to now. The legacy remains as the owners still tend to the lemons, figs, apples, pomegranates, granadilla’s, rasp berries, avocados, plums, apricots, nectarines, cherries, naartjies and grapefruits for our guests to enjoy.
The owners of De Molen
In 1998 Joris and Christy travelled to South Africa for the first time. We immediately fell in love with South Africa. What a beautiful country! We travelled to other countries, but no one came close to the beauty and diversity of South Africa.
The people we met were so friendly. South Africa truly gives us the feeling of freedom, adventure and entrepreneurship. When we first visited De Molen in January 2007, we immediately knew we found that perfect place!
Just days (!) before our immigration in July 2007 we were approached by Dutch Television to make a 60- minute documentary covering our departure and our first months in Somerset West. It gives an objective view into our lives at that stage. We keep copies of the DVD in the lounge, but you can also watch it on-line: http://www.allesgemist.nl/video/Ik+vertrek/74790
Environmental Friendly
Conservation is taken very seriously at De Molen Guest House. All our team members are given education in this area, introducing energy saving devices, water conservation, waste recycling and cleaner production. These are some of the many ways that De Molen is making its contribution towards a cleaner, safer and more sustainable planet.
The De Molen team is committed to the sustainable development of the area in a way that has the least possible impact on the natural environment.
Heat pumps have been installed on the geysers to warm up all the water for the rooms and also to reduce the electrical usage.
Waste from the kitchen is turned into compost and used in the organic vegetable and herb gardens.