Oakhurst Farm Cottages – Wilderness – Garden Route

Oakhust Farm is one of the few remaining, large working farms along the Garden Route. Covering some 640 hectares, 200 of which are pristine fynbos and indigenous forest, the farm is today run commercially by the Crowther family, sixth generation descendants of the original purchaser, Henry Dumbleton.

Dumbleton bought the farm without laying eyes on it, while serving in the British Army in India in 1820. It was not until 20 years later that he sent his son, Henry Dumbleton Junior out to this wild and remote part of the Cape to develop the farm. Henry built The Forge (today used as one of our accommodation options) and the original farmhouse, before choosing to move to the genteel surrounds of Cape Town. His brother Walter Dumbleton arrived in 1860 and took the farm to the next level, with the development of a 4.5km water furrow from the Outeniqua Mountains to the new farmhouse, which he built in 1868 to accommodate his wife and 13 children. This home is still used at the main farmhouse today. In the mid 1870′s he built the Oakhurst Chapel, which still serves the local community and is a popular wedding venue. Next he built a school, followed by a water mill, which was still in use up until the 1960′s and is fully intact today.

As a top dairy and beef farm in the Southern Cape, Oakhurst Farm’s rich history and spectacular beauty draw visitors form across the globe