128b. De Bos (English)
(Orange Farm)(Die Bos)(De Bos)
The Original House
3 Middle Street has long been known as “Die Bos”
Erf no: 310
Description:
It’s one of the smallholdings of the town. It is seen as you enter the town on Long Street from the Ashton side (left hand side of road across river). It is a long thatched house with a middle gable and simple peak gables at the end. This decorative feature of the house was referred to in the book “The Old Buildings of the Cape” by Hans Fransen.
It has good proportions with sash windows and a right handed door divided vertically. The location of the house has no relation to the layout of the town which indicates a possibility that it was built before the town was laid out
Built in 1856 or later. (1856 is the date of the first deeds).
Original owner: It was part of the farm Uitvlucht which belonged to the “Board of Church Wardens of the Dutch Reformed Church” on 6/6/1855
Editor’s notes:
1. Who lived at Die Bos before first documented owner Alwyn Petrus Conradie is not clear but according to a document found in Montagu Museum archive a family called du Toit also played a significant role in the properties history. It is assumed they had some form of tenant agreement with the Dutch Reformed Church.
2. According to the current (2025) owners Tracy and Andy Simman’s the property name was changed from Die Bos to De Bos by the Brown’s who owned De Bos prior to the current owners. Both names appear in the story with an effort being made to link the name of the property to the era.
Die Bos 1947
Picture: Transnet Heritage library
The Homestead somewhere in time
The Homestead (2021)
From Aasvoelkrans walking trail
Homestead 2024
Die Bos can be seen on the left next to the Keisie River
Picture: Transnet Heritage Library
Owners of Die Bos
The following information was transcribed and translated from a hand written document found in Montagu museum archive which traces some of the owners of Die Bos (no author shown)
Built in 1856 or later according to the first deeds. Original owner: It was part of the farm Uitvlucht which belonged to the “Board of Church Wardens of the Dutch Reformed Church” on 06/06/1855.
The first sale of a piece of Uitvlucht was on 20/11/1856 to Alwyn Petrus Conradie. Deed No 242 for Lot 155.
Restoration: In 1987 there were many things that had to be done. An extension to the right hand side spoilt the front view of the house. Mrs. A. Kotze, the owner at the time, stated that she was inclined to renovate but it never happened.
First sale (known then as Lot155) Sold to
1. Alwyn Petrus Conradie Deed No.242 dated 20/11/1856
2. Gideon Johannes van Zyl (later insolvent) 28/06/1860
??? Stephanus Johannes du Toit and his wife Susanna Jacomina
3. Jacob Daniel Joubert Deed No. 3080 dated 18/07/1891
4. Johannes Hendrik Conradie Deed No. 5953 dated 18/09/1900
5. Hendrik Willem van der Merwe Deed No. 6867 dated 27/08/1912
6. Mrs.Magdelina Zagryda Fouche Deed No. 7027 dated 31/07/1924
7. Susanna Maria Steyn Deed No. 8043 dated 20/07/1942
8. Petrus Johannes Naude Deed No. 11793 dated 09/08/1963
9. Jacob Friedrich Rossouw Deed No. 17860 dated 31/08/1966
10. Johannes Hendrik le Roux Deed No. 34855 dated 28/12/1971
11. J.G. le Roux Deed No. 13871 dated 20/06/1978
12. Mrs. A. Kotze 1987
13. Mr. Deon Boshoff 1993
14. Mr. & Mrs. Brown March 2002
15. A & T Simmans 2015
Anna Maria du Toit
(Step daughter of Johannes Hendrik Conradie 4th owner of Die Bos)
Document found in the Montagu Museum no author indicated (Translated)
Anna was born on 1 May 1884 on the farm Orange Grove (currently known as Die Bos), Montagu. She was the thirteenth and last child of the owner of the farm, Stephanus Johannes du Toit and his wife Susanna Jacomina, née le Roux.
Annie (pronounced the English way) lost her father at an early age. After her mother’s second marriage to Johannes Conradie, a particularly strong bond arose between little Annie and her stepfather. However, he also passed away in her early teens.
Under difficult circumstances, the widow Conradie managed to let Annie enjoy a good school and music training.
After that, Annie went to Friedenheim Seminary, Wellington. During her training there, she met Izak Cornelius Potgieter ,the later Rev. Izak Cornelius Potgieter (at the time still a student at the Mission Institute). After she had taught for a number of years in Heidelberg district, Transvaal, she married Izak in 1910. This decision to teach in the Heidelberg district was in response to a church call that young teachers should make themselves available to help with the education of the youth after the devastating Anglo-Boer war.
After their wedding, the Potgieter couple served in the Free State Mission in those early and eventful days of its existence, in the congregations of Edenburg and Ficksburg.
The couple were fortunate to have spent more than 66 years together. They were both born in 1884 – she on May 1st and he on September 1st. She died at the age of 92 while he outlived her by another 5 years.
Of interest to old Montaguers: Oldest brother: Frans du Toit from Scheepersrus, whose son, Pon, was a lawyer for many years and, among other things, the mayor of Montagu.’
Susanna Maria Steyn
An extract from the book “Vroue van Montagu” by Yvonne Bussell
Miss Steyn from the Baden school
(Translated)
Miss Steyn, as she was known, was the second daughter of Aunt Annie Steyn of Riversdal. When the eldest daughter, Griet, finished teaching college, the father died, leaving Annie with six daughters and two sons. Soes (Susanna) went to college, with Griet’s help. Every two years after that the other girls, Lil, Let, Alida and Nora, went to college, each helped by the others through their studies.
Miss Steyn lodged with uncle Paul and aunt Hannie Jordaan and started teaching in Baden in 1922. The school went from Sub A to Standard 6 (Grade 1 to Grade 8) and every child had to make sure he or she knew the work, because for every spelling mistake you got a hit with the leather crop on the hand. School started at 08:00 in the morning and at lunchtime the children’s food was sent to school, while Miss Steyn also went to eat. At 15:30 the pupils could go home.
As well as teaching, Miss Steyn was constantly busy with handicrafts. She made the most beautiful smocks, crocheted and knitted items. She walked away with many cups at the bazaars. She happily participated in all the processions and with her artistic aptitude, her float won the first prize during the church’s centenary celebrations in 1954. Shan Bussell was in Std IV standing by the large three layer cake on the float holding the knife. A photo of the raft, at the time of the celebration of the first 150 years of the congregation’s existence, appears in the book that was published in 2004.
As a result of the thorough foundation laid at Baden’s small farm school, Miss Steyn’s pupils performed well when they got to the high school in the village. The principal’s son and daughter were both former scholars of hers in 1950.
Miss Steyn loved farming and after teaching for 20 years, she bought Die Bos farm in 1942. Not long after that she married Nico van der Westhuysen. He administered and she almost worked herself to death because they had a dairy. Two years later, she started teaching again, after Nico passed away, when a position became vacant in Baden. In 1960, Kitty Joubert started teaching there after Miss Steyn had held the post for 20 years and then again for six or eight years, a total of at least 26 years. Later she sold the farm and went to live with her sister Nora in Hermanus. At the age of 90, she still remembered every child who was at school with her.
The farm schools in the district played an extremely important role in the education of rural children. In 1991 dr. J. E. Kellermann, head of the high school, wrote about these schools: “For the preservation and stabilization of the cultural heritage of the Afrikaner in the platteland, no other institution, besides the church, has made a greater contribution than the farm schools, in particular. They were beacons of light in their districts.” The little schools could only play this role thanks to outstanding teachers like Miss Steyn.
Anelma Oosthuizen (b. Kriel) remembers: We bought milk from Mrs. Steyn. Every month my mother and I walked to Die Bos to buy the milk coupons. We had milk delivered to the house in bottles. I remember the Fancy dress parade that Mrs. Bussell wrote about in which my sister and I participated. Mrs. Steyn’s school children also participated. I remember a Jordaan boy was a traffic light or something to do with traffic. One of her pupils came as a brown copper penny. Terribly clever idea. Some of the little children were green peas in a green pea pod. The pod was a green painted canoe and 2 or 3 little children were sitting flat with green swimming caps on their heads. Like round green peas. My sister and I were still little she was in sub B and I probably in std 2. But I remember well. I was a white lily and my sister a yellow butterfly.
Mnr. Jaco le Roux (a previous owner)
Mother and 3 children survive flood on top of piano
(From Our Special Representative a report found in the Montagu Museum about the flood of 1981. No author indicated. Translated)
MONTAGU. “I have never felt so powerless,” said Mr. Jaco le Roux from the farm Die Bos in the district said when he told how he walked up and down the Keisie River on the Sunday evening of the flood in the Karoo while his wife and three children were trapped in their house in the middle of the river.
Mr. Le Roux did not realize until the next morning around five o’clock that his wife, Priscilla, and his children were still alive when he saw them outside the house. He was only able to swim through the river at four o’clock in the afternoon.
During the flood, the farmhouse was an island in the middle of the devastating Keisie River.
Die Bos 1981 Flood View from Kannonkop
Anelma Oosthuizen (b. Kriel) remembers: A classmate of mine lived in that rondavel near Die Bos. We were at school together from std.5 to matric. His name was Clive Shea. The rondavel also flooded with the 1981 flood.
Piano
Mr. Le Roux was with his parents on the other side of the river at the time of the flood. He immediately called his wife and told her to close the whole house and lock herself and the children in one room. While they were talking, the connection was broken. According to him, the most important reason why his family survived the flood is the fact that his wife remained calm.
Mrs. Le Roux and the children sat on a piano in one room and watched objects float past the window. Only the room they were in and another in the house were not flooded.
Of the 16 ha of land on his farm, only 4 ha did not suffer flood damage. Of the fifteen vehicles, only three could still run after the flood. He also lost eleven cows in the flood and suffered around R370 000 in damage, Mr. Le Roux said.
Floodplain farmers can smile again
Excerpt from: Die Burger 2 January 1982
Mr. Jaco le Roux of the farm Die Bos, Montagu has lost about 7 ha of his farmland for which he received an ex gratia payment from the Government. One of the biggest problems on his farm was caused by wind causing damage to the young vine plants only about 8000 of 18000 newly planted vines survived. Of the 2000 fruit trees he planted, only about 500 grew.
Mr. Le Roux told Die Burger that the water from the Keisie River, which flows through his farm, became brackish after the flood. At the same time there was a shortage of labour in the town which was caused by many of the farm workers working at the Kogmanskloof water project. On part of his farm, where the river had created a second course, only sand remained. “Not even grass wants to grow there,” he said.
Mr. le Roux said he had contemplated whether he should have even start repairs on his farm, which was completely flooded by the floodwaters. However, he has now insured everything on his farm for fear of a future flood.
The Dairy
Mr & Mrs Jaco Le Roux
The following newspaper article Translated
Kingna Dairy and Farm products grows fast
From one farm stall in Montagu to a vegetable shop in Robertson and now also in Worcester this is how Kingna Dairy and Farm products grew in five years. Where did it all begin?
After the 1981 flood Mr. Jaco Le Roux had to rebuild his beautiful farm from scratch. It bothered him that his vehicles were not fully utilized. Mr. Le Roux had the Dairy Belle agency which delivered milk to Montagu, Ashton, Bonnievale, Robertson, McGregor, Swellendam and Barrydale.
Mr. Le Roux found that he could also successfully deliver vegetable orders at the same time. Shortly afterwards the Kingna (Padstal) farm stall was built in Long Street.
Mr. Le Roux found that the farm stall functioned extremely well during school holidays but it was quiet during term times. The reason being that it was far from the town business centre. He decided to open a vegetable shop in the business district. Mrs. Hettie Marais managed the shop which was immediately a big success.
In February 1983 Mr. Le Roux acquired his own building in Robertson where he housed his Dairy and Vegetable outlet. This was also a resounding success.
Mr. Wynaand Bezuidenhout who managed the dairy and vegetable shop retired due to ill health, after loyal service and was succeeded by Mr. and Mrs. Willie Steinman
Two months ago Mr. Le Roux was approached by Dairy Belle and offered the agency for Worcester, Rawsonville, De Doorns and Touwsriver. This led to the establishment of a vegetable shop in Worcester.
The Kingna Dairy and Farm products became well established in the Boland, with an estimated turnover of R2.6 million for the next year. Mr. Le Roux is considering opening a vegetable shop in Ashton and another in Bredasdorp.
Managers of the shop in Montagu Business District
Arij Tobias Montagu resident (2021) remembers Miss Steyn as her teacher at a school in Baden. She also recalls that Die Bos had a dairy and one could buy milk by the bucket.
Tracy and Andy Simmans (current owners 2024)
The Simmans’s bought De Bos from Stuart Brown in October 2015 – it was called De Bos Guest Farm and consisted of 5 cottages, 3 rooms and a dormitory which slept 18 – 20 people, and a campsite. They took a year to figure out how the business worked and decide how to improve it. In that time they discovered that the sewerage system did not work very well, from the camper’s bathrooms through the then courtyard, the pipes were very shallow and ran uphill! Luckily Andy is a Civil Engineer and the problem was fixed. The next job was to improve the cottages, the 2 small cottages were converted from 6 sleepers to 4 sleepers and a new swimming pool was built. In 2019 the new courtyard was built to create a lovely communal area in the barn (which was previously the dormitory) plus 3 rooms and 2 dormitories each sleeping 10. This renovation has worked well and is well used. We also changed the name to De Bos Backpackers and Camping. In 2024 work began on the old main house. The lean too on the eastern side of the house had a leaky roof and the little veranda on the north had a very leaky thatch roof. During the dismantling of the little veranda dry mud was discovered under the wooden floor, which we surmised must have been left over from the 1981 flood. There were many eras of brickwork, ranging from mud bricks held together with clay, some bricks were even quite sandy and disintegrated easily, to clay bricks with cement to the modern brick and cement.
The long term plan is to redo the thatch on the main house – it will be an expensive job, and to fix the roof on the 2 large cottages.
Entrance to old dairy cold room (2021)
Evidence of old cold room
The old milking shed (2021)
Inside the old milking shed
Pictures: Die Bos website
When walls were built to last
Renovations 2024
Some memories from the Montagu History F/B page
The following comments have been translated from Afrikaans
Flip Kriel : I couldn’t get closer to take a better picture. This is the house on the smallholding “Die Bos” (I knew it as a child as “Die Bos”. Nowadays it is “De Bos”). The house was built in about 1856.
Daniel Stephanus vd Merwe from Wellington bought the farm Uitvlugt from Pieter Swanepoel in 1844. Vd Merwe wanted to speculate with the land and consequently began to subdivide the farm into plots with the aim of selling them. The first eleven plots were sold in 1851. These first plots were the so-called “water” plots, so called because they received lei water from the Keisie River. These plots were located between, the then, Bad Street now and the Kingna River. This is why the oldest houses in the town are located in this area. So the town originated here.
In order to raise money for the establishment of an own congregation of the NG Church (detached from Swellendam), a number of residents of the settlement bought the remaining part of Uitvlugt from vd Merwe, subdivided it into plots and resold it. This was circa 1854.
“Die Bos” was one of these plots which on 6 June 1855 was still the property of the “Board of Church Wardens of the Dutch Reformed Church”. The plot of land (“Die Bos”) was conveyed to Alwyn Petrus Conradie on 20. 11. 1856 by conveyance deed 242 of the said date. In 1860 the property was sold to G.J. van Zyl. Conradie probably built or had the house built. It was at that time (1856) and for many years the only house on the opposite (west) side of the Keisie River.
In my childhood, vd Westhuizen had a dairy here. The milk was delivered to the homes in one and two pint glass bottles with a cart pulled by two horses. This was in the early 1950s. I wasn’t in school yet and when the cart came to our house, I got on and sat next to the driver. I then drove around the block with the driver who would then drop me off at home. For me, as a 5 year old, it was a wonderful adventure.
Pieter Swanepoel: Flip, wasn’t the owner a Mrs. Steyn in those years, she had a green (I think GMC) bakkie in the 50s. As I remember it, Van der Westhuizen was only the farm manager. We lived in Berg Street (today no 18) during those years and my grandfather’s land diagonally below our house bordered on part of Die Bos land, they also had the land where Montagu Caravan Park is today – the part above the embankment where the dam is, the lower part was municipal grazing.
Flip Kriel: You are absolutely right. In my childhood, Mrs. S.M. Steyn was the owner. In 1942 she bought from Mrs. Fouché. In 1963 she sold to P.J. Naudè. You are right vd Westhuizen was only the manager or tenant.
Pieter Swanepoel: Yes vd Westhuizen was known to us as children as “tomato pink” he loved to plant tomatoes on that piece of land against my grandfather’s. Yes old vd Westhuizen usually acted as if that land belonged to him. Hans le Roux bought the land in the late 60’s early 70’s, presumably then from Mrs. Fouché. In the 70’s Le Roux also enlarged that dam, which now belongs to the Caravan Park, by about a quarter. After the 81 flood the Kotze’s, from the Caravan Park, bought Die Bos. Part was sold and become the current De Bos and the part where the Caravan Park was kept. I suspect the name De Bos was introduced by the new owner.
Flip Kriel: Hans le Roux must have bought from Rossouw because Rossouw bought from Naudè who bought from Mrs. Steyn. Mrs. Magda Fouché was owner before the Steyn lady. I do not have personal knowledge but according to what I have read, Antonette Kotze was the owner of the Die Bos during the 1981 flood. However, it could also be that Antonette Kotze bought Die Bos after the 1981 flood. My knowledge falls a little short here. At that time I was still in the north of the South West.
Pieter Swanepoel: Yes I have to be honest and say I don’t know to whom Mrs. Steyn sold but I am 100% sure that at the time of the 81 flood Die Bos belonged to Hans lé Roux. Hans’ son continued with the farming for a little while but then sold it. However, what I still don’t quite understand today is how the vlei became part of Die Bos – as mentioned before, the vlei was municipal land/grazing camps, would they have offered it for sale on a tender or would it be on a 99 year rent lease system and are therefore still municipal lands? I’m just wondering.
Tracy Simmans: (owner of Die Bos 2024) The historians of Montagu are questioning the age of our house – it possibly existed before it was bought in 1856. But no matter what, we feel very privileged to own this amazing piece of land
Alexander Neethling; That house has withstood 2 floods. During the flood people were stuck on the roof of the rondavels across the road. This was the 1981 flood.
Contribution: Irma Jordaan, Tracy Simmans
