There are NO shops in Matjiesfontein. Bring your own snacks and extras with!

The great "Oom Kosie's Band" from Matjiesfontein will be preforming especially for us again.

They will be playing on the Staturday evening (22nd Sep) 6pm on the lawn outside the Royal Lounge. Come hang out for the sunset concert

" I want to screen the Incubus, a video art installation : short film with Sylvia Saint. Directed by Guto Bussab. The video shows renowned porn actress Sylvia Saint singing to the lyrics of Stabat Mater. The original footage was obviously of Saint performing oral sex and later digitally manipulated to exclude any explicit sexual content. The title, incubus, suggests the mythical figure who has sex with a man in his sleep without his consent. " Guto.

Photohire has agreed to provide us with equipment again!
What would we do without them! ?
thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Fantastic News: There will be another photographic slideshow in the Coffee Shop, Mainroad Matjiesfontein on the Sunday morning!
URGENT URGENT URGENT !!!!!!!!
We are calling all photographers to submit images for the slideshow!! Please email Steph Venter if you have images to contribute.
Even if you can"t be there in person, we will appreciate your contribution.

The third room of the Royal Lounge in the Lord Milner Hotel.

Shot inside the Lord Milner Hotel for Marie Claire Fashion.






Photographer: Ansgar

There are NO ATM's in Matjiesfontein villiage. Please remember to bring some cash...

Remember to settle your bill at the Lord Milner Hotel reception before your depature. Please quote your room number on all food and drink orders.

Members of The Buckfever Underground have booked out a room and will stage a gig, or gigs, or parts of gigs throughout the weekend. The Matjies gig is part of their four-city tour of the Western Cape (Obs, Durbanville, Stellies, Matjies) to promote their brand-new album, The Buckfever Underground SAVES, which is currently flying off the shelves in Japan, because apparently Stephen Timm’s (the band’s drummer) name is an anagram or hologram or something with –gram for the popular Japanese phrase “this fish has an arse on its head”, which is their way of saying life rocks, let’s have a braai. Where were we? Oh yes, the band will play at Matjies, and there will be an open/ revolving door policy to all other musicians attending the weekend: bring your instrument and play/ sing/ mumble/ mime/ hum with us. The more the merrier. Albums will be on sale.

The Show'N Tell was a toy combination record player and filmstrip viewer manufactured by General Electric from the 1950s to the 1970s.
It resembled a television set, but had a record player on the top. Records and slides were sold for it in combination. One would insert the slide strip into the top and play the record; the record typically told a story, and the slide strip, which projected the images on the screen, would automatically advance to illustrate it.
It also functioned as a standard record player, able to play 16, 33⅓, 45, and 78 RPM records.

From Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia

UPDATED FOR 2008
Matjiesfontein is a sensitive herritage site and can only accommodate 100 people....don't wait no more...BOOK now

Available Accommodation Options in Matjiesfontein:
* Lord Milner Hotel main building rooms (twin, doubles and singles)
* Garden Rooms (twin, doubles and singles)
all at R340 per person sharing per night – bed and breakfast
( i.e. double rooms cost 2x R340 per night)

SELF-CATERING COTTAGES
* Self-catering cottages( sleeps 6) bargain of the weekend!! ( but hurry)
at R700 per cottage per night - bed and breakfast

TRAIN
* Transport museum sleeper-train bunk-beds
R200p.p per night – bed ( no bedding) and breakfast.
R120p.p per night- bed (no bedding) only.

Book accommodation, email JIl :matjie.bookings@gmail.com
with details of what you would like to book and for how many people and so on..
Please pay 50% deposit to secure your booking into:

Bank Account details:
Account Name: I.S.Prins
Account type: Smart Account (savings)
Account number: 62139735635
Branch: FNB Garden Centre
Branch Code: 201511

Please also state your “creative contribution” for the weekend when you book – even if your idea changes later on its okay...be brave

If your mother only knew freestyle:

Learn how to Levitate:

Breakdancing Facial Expression Lessons:

"we were hoping to come through but it seems that it won't be possible. We are very bummed about it and will keep our dates open for next year. have a good one and think of the poor suckers who can't be there..C&T"

Question: So who was Logan ?

Answer : Back in 1883 the little backwater town, Matjiesfontein was discovered by Jimmy Logan a Scottish immigrant.

Logan arrived in South Africa on board a sailing vessel and with five pounds in his pocket took leave of the ship and made his way to Cape Town. He found a job as a porter earning 5 shillings a day on the station, showed outstanding ability and began his meteoric rise through the ranks.
At 20 he was appointed Cape Town stationmaster.
At 21 he married and was promoted by the railways to district superintendent of the stretch of line between Hex River and Prince Albert Road. He moved to Touwsriver which is about 55 kilometres from Matjiesfontein.
Just then diamonds were discovered in Kimberley and thousands of people were streaming through to the diamond fields.
There were no dining cars on trains. Logan saw the opportunity to provide food for travellers on the trains.
In 1883 to move his whole family to Matjiesfontein.
Once there he obtained the concession for the refreshment room on the Matjiesfontein station.

Over the next 10 years he developed Matjiesfontein from a wayside station into a Victorian health and holiday resort. Matjiesfontein attracted the rich and famous of yesteryear including the likes of Olive Schreiner and Cecil John Rhodes."

This text and more about Laird of Matjiesfontein here

"In June 1897, the African Banking Corporation opened a branch at Matjiesfontein. The handsome bank building was put up by Logan. There was a large gathering present when Logan unlocked the doors of the new bank."



Image and text from www.matjiesfontein.co.za - where you can search for a other locations for your contribution....

The Lord Milner Hotel Reception area in the Standard Bank Museum building, Main Road , Matjiesfontein.

Pic from www.matjiesfontein.co.za - where you can read all about Matjiesfontein - search for other locations for your contribution and read about its history..

The little chapel in the hotel garden could be a great location for your contribution....

The pics from www.matjiesfontein.co.za ( search for other locations)

The dress code for the Lord Milner Hotel dinner is smart casual..... rise to the occasion in your best vitage outfit..

"The Dining Room , located at the lobby level, over-looking the entrance of the Hotel, the dining room boasts the same historic ambiance found throughout Matjiesfontein. It is placed in a Victorian setting filled with period antiques, such as the antique clock - one of just three in the world. The unique wooden ceiling detail is supported centrally by a bronze sculpted pillar, a twin of the same pillar found at the Buckingham Palace."
"Here breakfast and dinner is served by courteous staff. Our nationally reknowned Karoo Lamb Curry features on the lunch and dinner menus."

www.matjiesfontein.com

"i also want to screen some flieks. have these great social guidance films from the 1950s.
they are a collection of shorts from the USA and they all revolve around themes like
'how to fit in' and why 'communists are bad'." R.D

Dont forget about the short film festival on the massive openair screen on Saturday night..
We are looking for any short films you have to screen.... homemade or otherwise... please email Raffaella.

tall people are welcome to the short film festival as long as they sit at the back.

"Johnny the town Major and local tour guide, dresses for the part in a suit and a bowler hat with a bow tie thrown in.
He has many jobs in the village.
He shows people around the estate driving the old London bus. He also drives the tractor which takes visitors on tours, plays the piano and sings in the Laird's Arms in the evenings and doubles as a waiter if required."

A... click on the HOW TO BOOK label on the right for details how to book. Click on ACCOMMODATION to see options..

“Show ’n’ tell” is not a commercial undertaking therefore all participants are responsible for costs, logistics and technical requirements for your contribution. There will be no added charge to see any of the shows.
We encourage all contributors to hand pick a venue in the ‘fontein ( see the locations Label). The program will ultimately depend on the kind of contributions you want to make.

if you are going to be sleeping in the train, don't forget to pack your own warm bedding

music video shot in Matjiesfontein

"Driving into the village along its short main road on the left you will find a series of buildings.
They are the Losies Huis (Boarding House) the Coffee Shop, The Post office and Olive Schreiners House, The Laird's Arms and the Lord Milner Hotel.
Across the crossroad is the Reston Villa which has been turned into a Museum for old motorcars and trains from times past.
Opposite all this is the Matjiesfontein station where the Blue Train stops for an hour on its journey north and south."




The Cofee shoppe is open for breakfast and lunch ( 9am-5pm). Here, one is also able to tank petrol at the 1960s "Shell Petrol" pumps stand, until 5 pm. daily.

The Laird's Arms pub


www.matjiesfontein.com

“Today if one walks in the veld around Matjiesfontein, one can still find rusted bully beef tins left behind by the British troops.”

“When the Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, Matjiesfontein served as a command headquarters and "home" to many British officers. This was the furthest north that wives and sweethearts were allowed to travel. Many were seen strolling on the arms of officers and dining in the hotel, which later served as a convalescent hospital for wounded officers. Soldiers are reported to have used the turrets of the hotel as lookout posts and it is said that bands of Boers were often spotted moving through the hills. On the outskirts of the village was a huge remount camp for over 20 000 troops and 10 000 horses was established.
Some crack British regiments were based at Matjiesfontein”
(Quote from a brief history of Matjiesfontein.)

The Lord Milner Hotel has this beautiful swimming pool in the garden:



Don't forget to pack your swimming gear..

September 2006:
Photograph: www.stephventer.co.za

"South African writer Olive Schreiner loved Matjiesfontein and lived there from 1890 to 1892. She was one of the first people to see Logan's plans for the place. She wrote of these to a friend : "I have seen what James hopes to do with his Matjiesfontein and asked him to keep a house there for me." He did, and it was here that she wrote "Thoughts on South Africa," her many letters to Havelock Ellis and her missives to Cecil John Rhodes. She regularly dined at Logan's railway refreshment room, walked in the veld with a feeling of "wild exhilaration" as the sun rose and sat on a koppie near a bush now known as "Olive's tree."
adapted from here