Most of us have one place in the world we love above all others. It might even be a place to which you’ve never been – an imaginary flat in Paris, or that villa in Under the Tuscan Sun. For me, that place has always been a little coastal village on the Southern tip of Africa called Sedgefield.
Sedgefield
The place of my childhood holidays, it seemed that if I lived in Sedgefield, all problems would seem small and easily manageable compared to the joy I’d feel waking up to the sound of the sea and the view of the mountains. Seven years ago our family of four took the chance to leave it all behind and live the life we dreamed about when stuck in Joburg traffic.
We said what everyone opting out says. That cliché about quality of lifestyle making up for loss of city income. And, like all clichés it has an element of truth – but, you still need money and earning in a place this size is very difficult. There’s a saying the locals trot out to new incomers, ‘If you want to end up with a million in Sedgefield, bring two million when you move down.’ Since we’ve been here we’ve seen a big turnover of faces at the local school – all eager and happy in the first few months, less happy by month 6, and back where they came from by the time a year has passed.
We’ve had very rocky periods including a winter where our lights were cut off and we ate baked beans and rice every single night. The fact that we could flavour the beans with our garden chilies and drink cheap red wine in front of the fire did make it all more bearable, but the stress of imminent poverty and foreclosure on your house is immense no matter your surroundings.
Seven years on and we are on a pretty secure footing. Luck with a property market that started booming just as we were desperate, and a complete change in the way we viewed earning money – aggressive when presented with opportunities and an entrepreneurial mind shift – has meant we can live the dream, albeit with compromises we hadn’t foreseen.
It’s meant time apart for the family as one of us has had to work abroad on contracts. It’s meant sometimes having holiday makers or tenants living in our dream house instead of us. The people who have survived and are still here are those with good, exportable skills not dependent on location. Software designers, freelance writers, internet savvy. Or those with skills necessary for life in any place – doctors, lawyers, plumbers. Many entrepreneurs who provide services – grocery stores, video rental, hardware are still here.
The highest rate of attrition comes from those who move here to start restaurants, coffee shops or B & Bs. Some survive but many fail due to lack of experience and the vagaries of living in a seasonal location. It’s very hard to pay a years expenses on two months’ earnings.
Has it been worth it? Overwhelmingly so. My life is wonderful, rewarding, and every day I am surrounded by the kind of beauty that sells calendars. 
What a beautiful blog… so glad I came across it!
Love your blog, Jeannine! I grew up in Knysna and always loved driving past the horse fence. Sedgefield is so beautiful. I now live in the States but a big chunk of my heart was left on the Garden Route. It’s a piece of paradise.
Jeannie, I don’t see an RSS feed or a “follow me”. How do you expect your readers to keep in touch?
What I really don’t understand about people living in all these ideal locations is the weird and invisible lack of the ‘buzz’ factor which makes all humans so gregarious and flock to cities.I really appreciate and love locations like yours, but have always wondered how I could spend all my time in one.
I am endlessly self sufficient, and would always have plenty to do; but it is the feeling of being left out of the mainstream of human life that bothers me in some way I cannot work out.I can’t work it out because I hate living in big cities all the time and always yearn for places like Sedgefield or similar. The whole thing is a mystery to me.
So many parallels here to my own decision to leave the mainstream of American “professional” life and begin varnishing boats for my living. I said the same things about quality of life making up for income. I’ve seen the faces come and go. Very early on, I once dug in sofa cushions for change to buy gas for the car. I’ve learned about living on a seasonal income.
And now, I say the same thing. It’s been worth it. Concerns like those of Rocketone bother me not at all. I feel myself being carried along in the great, main stream of life.
What many people consider the mainstream I now see as nothing more than a swirling, frothy backwash. It’s more noticeable, and prettier in a way, but it isn’t going anywhere.
Great pictures and you talk about food – what’s not to like?!
I really enjoyed your blog, I’ll certainly be back in future
Thanks for popping in wonk, and I look forward to your return!
Hi Jeannine, loved your blog, came across it by accident, I was looking for a great melktert recipe, I will certainly be back to read more of your writings,really good stuff. I live in Seattle WA but left my soul in Kommetjie, Cape Town where I spent many years.
Hi there Linda! Great to hear from you. Kommetjie is beautiful, and from what I’ve seen in movies so is Seattle – lovely and lush with all that rainfall.
Great coffee too – just the thing to enjoy with that melktert!