NIEU-BETHESDA NEWS — The Village Inn Restaurant in Nieu-Bethesda will be 25 years old this year and is still going strong.

This restaurant, up the road from the entrance to the Owl House, is the oldest eating place in Nieu-Bethesda. The doors were first opened on 1 November 1991 when there was no eating, or drinking place in the village.

Very little was going on in the village apart from the weekly tennis and braai at the tennis club which were well supported by the farmers. In 1984 Athol Fugard premiered his play, ‘The Road to Mecca’ in America and England, and theatre goers from over the world started to visit Nieu Bethesda to look for the Owl House which plays a prominent part in the play and the village. Neil Sheard saw an opportunity and bought the house where The Village Inn is still operating today, run by Idil and friendly, able assistant, Sophie. Guest houses and other eateries followed to make Nieu- Bethesda the tourist attraction it is today.

Egbert Gerryts was the first host and made many friends while establishing a tourist info office (unofficially), restaurant (its main function) and gathering place for locals and new friends - and of course books.

All these functions are still the focus of The Village Inn, with paintings added:- oils by Joanne Reen and others by lesser and better known artists. Visitors are served farm style food – “soos my ma” or “ouma gemaak het”- according to many comments by customers in the visitors’ book. Lamb dishes, salads with herbs from the garden, fresh, home-made bread, fresh-baked scones and a variety of breakfast meals are some of the choices on the menu.

In Heritage Month and now with the old pear trees in the village a mass of blossoms, a visit to Nieu-Bethesda and The Village Inn seems like a good way of enjoying one’s heritage on Heritage Day. 

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