Forest Edge - Communal Areas, Graves virtual photo tour

The Communal Areas at Forest Edge are open for use by all guests and allows for safe, free roaming in the large open spaces in Nature. There is a useful and popular self-guided eco-historic site tour (with a special section for kids that can earn them a prize!) to help guests learn about the history, fauna, flora, water and waste-management of Forest Edge and the social structure of the area. There are picnic and other benches scattered about.

More or less in the middle of the property there is a jungle gym and information board with mammal and bird charts and other nature information. In addition to each cottage's private braai, there is also a great communal bonfire area popular with large groups or families who want to tell stories around the bonfire. There are benches around the log-stack and also a picnic bench and umbrella for parents to relax, while watching the little ones play.

On the Western end of the property are our very own woodcutter graves, from the original woodcutter families that lived on the property up to almost a century ago. We have only been able to identify some of the graves but it remains incredible to think this is where the souls described in Dalene Matthee's "Circles in the Forest" and "Dreamforest" books have lived.

To see these areas in relation to the rest of the property, please see the site map. Please see the photos of the Forest Edge Communal Areas below. Gardens change; different weather casts a different light, so this is meant to be representative. Guest photos are acknowledged in the hover-over.

Quicklinks to the rest: FairyDen cottage; FoxGlove cottage; Fieldmouse cottage; FroggyPond cottage; Firefly cottage; Reception; Communal Areas

*** IMPORTANT: Although these areas are open to all guests, parents remain responsible for their children around the ponds, dams, jungle gym etc and we discourage loud parties due to the nature of our eco-friendly establishment. For more info on the eco-friendly self-catering we run here, please see below the photos.

     
On the North-Eastern corner is the donkey camp where our famous and well-loved donkeys, Hansel and Gretel, live and are fed and brushed. Guests and kids especially enjoy treating them to apples and carrots. We sometimes let them graze in various areas on the property but in a way where they cannot get to our new gardens into which we have heavily invested in Sept 2010.

   
In terms of water storage, there are 3 ponds, an earthen dam for storing irrigation water, a large reservoir and several rainwater storage tanks on the property. The ponds and dam have been stocked with Thilapia fish in 2009 and 2010.

     
*** Please note that Forest Edge is a nature-lovers retreat offering tranquility on the edge of the indigenous forest. This means that we try to live in tune with nature as much as possible and we try to avoid unnecessary noise and anything that can negatively impact on the environment

Forest Edge is run along eco-friendly principles (we have no choice, as we receive no municipal services being out of town!) Therefore we have to catch, store, treat and pump our own rain water for household and guests' use. There is a biological septic tank for sewerage disposal and in general we try to recycle where possible (e.g. wood, glass). We also re-use gray water from baths/sinks to water the garden. We do not feed or kill wild animals, but try and let them go about their normal business and we remove any snakes we should find on the property from time to time and place them very far from Forest Edge, deep in the forest (so far, we have never found one near a cottage, which we treat agains snakes).