My secret Melkbos is purely my own, just as everyone else’s would be his or her own. Mine faces the wrong way, one can say, as it has its back to the beach. It faces inland, and it has no coastal aspect. It has a distinctly inland aspect instead, thanksRead More

The Seafood Lapa has been given another West Coast injection. It’s not as if this golden oldie in Beach Road in Melkbosstrand needs to be given more West Coast blood, but it can never do harm. Enter Patrick Muller, former chef of The Palm Restaurant in distant St. Helena Bay.Read More

By Linza de Jager One can’t spread stoep stories if you live in a small town, which is hard. Let’s face it. Being honest is hard, especially if one is a hack, and has to make one’s living from writing. It’s because of the smallness of the town, and theRead More

Beauty! Power! Speed! These marvellous racehorses were recently photographed at Milnerton racecourse and stables by Denise Crawford. Though the racecourse is not used for racing anymore, it is still used for the training and stabling of race horses. The surroundings have of course changed, with much of the land aroundRead More

Every weekend intrepid Melksbosstrand photographer Denise Crawford takes to the road, and photographs the picturesque villages of the West Coast. Sometimes they’re not villages but bigger and grander places, but one won’t be pedantic about this. The West Coast is at heart, for many of us still a series ofRead More

It may have been miserable on the weather front, but for at least one youngster this week has had a highlight. Caroline Silwer (12) tried on her new church dress at Mary Poppe’s haberdashery shop in the Palm Centre in Melkbosstrand yesterday afternoon. She also bravely posed for a photoRead More

Gone are the days that a wedding cake has to be a fruit cake. Velddrift resident Yvonne Nosworthy chose a splendid three-tiered sushi wedding cake for her wedding. It turned out to be a masterpiece, one with a heartfelt touch. An edible red ‘heart’ adorned the top of the cake.Read More

Lovebirds Yvonne and John Nosworthy finally got to marry. They tied the knot on 27 May at the gracious Blue Bay Lodge near Saldanha Bay. It was 37 years since the two Velddrift residents had first met and fallen in love. Yvonne is 54 and John 58. She was onlyRead More

From poor fishing village to red-hot property. Paternoster has made astonishing progress – and the town’s eateries reflect it. Here can one can find the culinary heavyweights, the legends, the pioneers, the traditionalists, and the lingerie collectors. Reuben’s at Abalone House (yes, that Reuben’s) operates from a seaside white buildingRead More

Life is sweet as a koeksuster in Philadelphia. It’s the small town charm, of course. There are some streets, but only so many that you can count them on two hands. There are some houses. You can count them, too. There are some places of commerce. Just a few. OneRead More