Welcome to Middelburg Karoo

Die gemeenskap is waarom alles draai. Ons is ‘n gehegde gemeenskap, ken almal en werk altyd saam aan projekte. Die plaaslike munisipaliteit geniet baie steun van die gemeenskap, en is behulpsaam met projekte om die dorp skoon en misdaadvry te hou. Een voorbeeld van samewerking is die Interkerklike Karoo Migthy Men wat jaarliks hier aangebied word. Dis die enigste Mighty Men Konferensie in die Karoo. Jaarliks lok dit ongeveer 3000 tot 4000 manne. Alle kerke werk saam, om van hierdie geleentheid ‘n sukses te maak.

The school, built in 1908, once was the biggest school in the Cape Province. It was named after Mr Kalie Theron who saw his school grow from a two-teacher primary school to a high school. For 35 years he was the principal.

@Schoombee is a self catering farmhouse located just off the R56 between Middelburg and Steynsburg in the Karoo halfway between: Johannesburg and Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town / Cape South Coast. Enjoy the peace and quiet of the Karoo veld while experiencing the wonders of nature.

In the Oasis of the Karoo Heartland is this 3 Star country executive lodge situated in Middelburg. It is the perfect stopover midway between Johannesburg and the Garden Route. All the rooms have en-suite bathrooms, DStv and tea and coffee facilities.

Follow the road past the caravan park (Hill Street) to the first graveyard behind Ouberg Hill where the first inhabitants of Driefontein, on which Middelburg was founded, lay buried.

The childless couple adopted a sheep into their home, raised it as their child. When “Persie” died, he was buried between them in the Middelburg town cemetery. Grave nr 463. GPS: S 31º30’02.1” E 25º01’10.4”

The St Barnabas Church, a historical building is still in use for weekly sermons. It is build with stone, and the original bell can still be viewed in the garden.

Queen Victoria gave this gift to the town in 1887 when she had reigned for 50 years. The Victoria- and Jubilee Streets have been named then. The water pump can be seen in the Mayor’s Garden.

It was built as a home for Lord French, by Lord Kitchener’s Master builder during the 1899 – 1902 Anglo Boer War. Lord Kitchener, a notable British soldier, who succeeded Lord Roberts as Commander-In-Chief was also the brain behind the elaborate military blockhouse system, established to defend strategic road and railway bridges along the main routes in the country. During World War I, it was bought by Mr Maurice Hall for his wife and children’s safety and they called it “The Refuge”.

Many old students know the Officer’s Mess, situated on the grounds of the Grootfontein College of Agriculture as a former hostel named House Karoo. The mess dates from the Anglo Boer War period (1903 – 1910) and was one of many corrugated iron-and-wood structures that belonged to a vast British Military encampment on the farm, Grootfontein. Both its façade and ground plan closely resemble two other famous old Officer’s Messes; viz The Wynberg Officer’s Mess and the Jan Smut’s House, Doornkloof, Irene.

The pumping station was erected in about 1904 by the British troops that were stationed at Grootfontein. Its site is the marshland from which the actual “Groote Fontein” springs.

Sherborne Guest House is situated between Colesberg and Middelburg on the N9 + N10 route – 80km south from Colesberg and 17km north of Middelburg. The guest house is about 500m from the route above and is between numerous trees and hills. Come and enjoy your vacation on a true Karoo farm.