A Herbert Baker house · Aliwal North
Cape Dutch gables, brass beds and a verandah on three sides, on a farm that runs down to the Orange River — minutes off the N6, and a world away from it.
Conville stands about 3 km from the centre of Aliwal North and a kilometre back from the Orange River, with the farmlands running down to the water and a dam below the house. It is the kind of farmhouse you slow down for: a verandah on three sides, pressed ceilings, stained glass, and a garden the birds got to first.
The house offers four guest rooms, each with its own entrance from both inside and outside the house, so you can come and go as you please. Every room features its original brass poster bed alongside many of the antiques the house has gathered over the years.
Whether you simply need somewhere restful to stop en route to or from the Eastern Cape, or you are looking for a proper getaway from the noise of the city, you are very welcome here.
Original brass poster beds, high ceilings and period detail throughout. An additional mattress can be added to any room for a child.
Two large adjoining rooms sharing one bathroom — a double bed in the main room and two singles in the second. The original wallpaper and floorboards are left just as they were.
Carpeted, curtained and genuinely warm in an Eastern Cape winter, with an original brass poster double bed and a proper bath through the door.
Two brass poster singles and the original hand-crafted wooden cupboards, with its own balcony and its own way in — the choice for friends or siblings sharing, or for anyone arriving late and leaving early.
Quieter and plainer than the rooms in the main house, with one of the original stained glass windows, an antique wardrobe and chest of drawers, and a shower room of its own just through the door.
Good to know — breakfast is served in the old dining room each morning. An additional mattress can be added to a room for a child, and every room has its own entrance from both inside and outside the house. There is WiFi throughout, free parking on the property, and a braai and picnic area in the garden.
Every morning breakfast is laid out in the old dining room — the long table, the arched alcoves, the green damask and the fireplace all exactly where they have always been.
Conville has been kept rather than renovated. The leaded and stained glass in the front door and windows is original, as are the brass beds, the portraits, the oil lamps and much of the furniture. It is a house with a long memory, and the family who run it are still adding to the story.
Conville was drawn by Herbert Baker — later Sir Herbert, the architect of the Union Buildings and Groote Schuur — and built between 1906 and 1908 for David Gerrand, a Scottish civil engineer who had come out to the district for hydraulic engineering work. His family have lived in it ever since.
The Cape Dutch gables across the front are Baker’s signature revival style, finished here with castellated edging you will not find much of elsewhere in this part of the country. The roof went on in Marseilles tiles, the verandah wrapped three sides of the building on concrete pillars, and the joinery was done properly: teak for every external door and window, oak for the doors inside.
The stained glass came from Glasgow, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh — the foremost figure of Scottish Art Nouveau — and some of the antique furniture in the house is his work as well. The glass still throws colour across the hallway on a bright morning. Smaller things have lasted too: the servants’ bell system is still mounted in the main hallway.
The farm around it was about 200 acres under irrigation, growing lucerne to feed prize ostriches and a pedigree herd of Ayrshire cattle. The lucerne lands are still in production today.
“A commodious and substantial building of neat design.” Somerset Playne, The Cape Colony, 1910
The farm runs down to the Orange River, and guests are free to wander it. Bring binoculars and a rod; leave the schedule at home.
Farm roads and river paths to walk at your own pace, with open country in every direction.
River, reedbed, willow and open veld in one place — barn owls among the residents.
Fish the Orange River from the farm’s own banks, in the quiet of early morning or last light.
A chair on the verandah, croquet on the lawn, and a night sky with nothing in the way of it.
The town grew up around a drift — a crossing place on the Orange River used long before anyone thought to build a town beside it.
It was founded in 1850 by Sir Harry Smith, then Governor of the Cape Colony, who named it after a battle he had won in India four years earlier. The “North” was added to tell it apart from Aliwal South, which is now Mossel Bay. Locally it is Maletswai, a Sesotho name meaning the place of salt.
Aliwal North made its name twice over: as a transport town, once the railway arrived from East London in 1885, and as a health resort, thanks to the mineral hot springs that still draw visitors today. The Frere Bridge of 1880 was eventually replaced by the General Hertzog bridge that carries the N6 north.
Much of the town’s harder history belongs to the Anglo-Boer War, when a concentration camp was established here; a memorial was raised in 1981. The Kerkplein Museum and the memorial of remembrance are both a few minutes from the farm gate, which makes for an easy day: history in the morning, the hot springs after lunch, and back before dark.
Select any photograph to view it full size.
Conville is about 3 km from the centre of Aliwal North and a few minutes off the N6, with the last stretch on a dirt road. Just follow the signs.
Give Bruce a call on +27 (0)60 994 7299 and he will talk you in, or open the map below and let your phone do the work. Arriving after dark is no problem — just let us know roughly when to expect you.
Bruce is your host. Call, message or email him directly — he is happy to help with directions, late arrivals or anything else.
Check live availability and reserve your room online, or send Bruce a WhatsApp and he will take it from there.
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