’Old buildings are important, not only for their architectural features but also for the memories evoked of interesting people who lived there.’’ – Dr Anton Rupert.

In May 2024, my book Guesthouse Life was published by Naledi. This engaging memoir would make a wonderful Christmas gift, appealing to a broad scope of readers. With its blend of food, travel, history, and gardening, the book weaves together stories centred around the theme of a guesthouse. It is personal, written from the heart, and honest. It will resonate with guesthouse owners, those who’ve dreamed of running a B&B, and corporate travellers and tourists who stay at these establishments. At a time when the repurposing and restoration of historic homes is more popular than ever, Guesthouse Life highlights the restoration of a landmark home in George.

​The book is stocked by selected Exclusive Books, Wordsworth and Bargain Books branches. This is the ISBN number: ISBN978-1-991256-73-7 Alternatively, you can order from Naledi or Amazon using the links: https://naledi.co.za/product/guesthouse-life or from Amazon using the link https://amzn.to/3Aq42MV. 
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​Prologue. 
The backstory. The reader meets the Benkensteins and learns about their move from Namibia to the Garden Route and the acquisition of the historic home.
Chapter 1. Let’s start a Bed and breakfast.
The reader is introduced to The Gardener and his garden.
Chapter 2. Of bedrooms and fourposter beds.
This is about bedroom decor, but it is also about the challenges of running a B&B from a family home.
Chapter 3. When Winnie and Robert came to stay. 
This chapter includes an anecdote regarding guests from San Francisco. 
Chapter 4. Background music. 
​The reader learns about the restoration of Shanty-21, a historic outbuilding, and its role in the Benkenstein children, and their friends' lives, as a music den.,
Chapter 5. Breakfast is served. 
How many breakfasts per year? Times 30 years.
Chapter 6. A cuppa, a cookie, or a slice of cake.
It is many a B&B owner’s clever trick to say that afternoon tea, coffee, and cake are served between three-thirty and four in the afternoon. Four standby recipes are shared.
Chapter 7.  Someone stole our tree.
The reader learns about the abundance of trees on the property and an anecdote is shared about a tree trunk that was stolen overnight.
Chapter 8.Ten days to Christmas.
Two guesses as to who is left with no golden egg. Running a business from home is never more difficult than over the Christmas holidays. Even when Fairview belonged to the Standers, Christmas was the time for children and grandchildren to come home to Fairview.
Chapter 9. Hello and goodbye.
Hospitality is the name of the game. Not my proudest moment: Return your luggage right back to the car. You will not be sleeping in my guesthouse tonight.’’
Chapter 10. About house rules and dachshunds.
The most infuriating aspects of running a bed and breakfast are early arrivals or late arrivals, inconsiderate guests, guests ringing the doorbell in the middle of the night, no-shows, and people who book for single occupancy and then arrive with an entourage in tow.
Chapter 11.  No smoking in the bedroom, please.
For every smoking guest, five non-smoking guests are loathed by the faintest smell of smoke on curtains or other soft furnishings.
Chapter 12. Knitting my way through crappy reviews.  I knit to calm my mind. This chapter includes an anecdote about an uncomfortable toilet seat.
Chapter 13. The Assessors. 
Reviews, criticism, grading, boxes to be ticked, standards to be adhered to…
Chapter 14. Give me a break. The age-old problem of any guesthouse owner: Do I close the business for a month, or do I appoint someone so that I can go away for a few weeks.
Chapter 15. Are there ghosts at Fairview? 
Footsteps on the staircase.
Chapter 16. Bartering.
About my reluctance to give a discounted rate and my joy in the time-honoured tradition of bartering.
Chapter 17. Marketing. 
What I learned about marketing by trial and error and many a tribulation.
Chapter 18. An Inn by any other name.
So, is it a B&B, a Lodge, a Homestay, a Guesthouse, or a Country Home? Definitions to drive you dotty.
Chapter 19. Right of admission reserved.
You would hope all guests will respect you and your home. But in truth, some situations will be downright unpleasant, and you will be left with no choice but to ask a guest to leave.
Chapter 20. Bilking. 
The ones running off without paying for their stay.
Chapter 21. Housekeeping. 
Guest house owners are domestic champions. We are all authorities on cleaning materials, the best way to remove stains from towels and linen, the best mops on
the market, the right way to make a bed, clean a shower, and unblock a drain.
Chapter 22. The kitchen. 
The heart of most homes. The heart of Fairview since 1861.
Chapter 23. She can cook.
Anecdotes from my years of being a partner in a small catering company. The role of meals on offer in a guest house. A trip to Italy and three recipes demonstrated by an Italian housewife.
Chapter 24. The Standers at Fairview. ‘
’Old buildings are important, not only for their architectural features but also for the memories evoked of interesting people who lived there.’’ – Dr Anton Rupert.
Chapter 25. Heritage Matters.
Demolition and unsympathetic alterations are surely the biggest threat to our architectural heritage in South Africa.
Chapter 26. Restoring Fairview. 
About the restoration process of the Fairview homestead.
Chapter 27. For sale. Or not.
Chapter 28. A Sabbatical.
I walk the Camino de Santiago and with a lightness in my step and newfound joy, I return to my life family, responsibilities, and life as an innkeeper.
Chapter 29. Swine Flu. 
A brush with death.
Chapter 30. Loadshedding.
When we moved to George in 1994, The Gardener had just turned forty; I was in my thirties. Now we are talking about retirement, loss of hearing, lack of energy, not to mention lack of electricity.
Chapter 31.  And then came Covid. 
Along with our family’s silver jubilee as accommodation providers came Covid-19. The end of yet another era at Fairview Homestead.
Chapter 32. Our never-ending story. Looking back:
​‘’It is good to have an end to a journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end.’’ – Ernst Hemmingway.

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