Durban - Looking out from the Swissland cheese farm – at the end of a twisty uphill dirt road in the KwaZulu-Natal Midland, you won’t be met by scenes of the Alps out of the children’s book Heidi.
But you will have a soothing view of the mountains and forest which make the Midlands Meander a tourism adventure to remember.
Fran Isaac and her goats – the distinctive white Saanen breed – call this green place home and when you arrive, you need to pay attention to the “drive slowly” signs, because the goats graze right next to the dirt road and are not afraid to approach visitors and their cars for a good sniff. The goats are tame and they have been treated like friends since they were young.
The new bistro, Billies, is at the top of the shop and milking stall.
Fran said: “We like to ask our guests for their ideas and they can write them on our board. Regularly the idea of a restaurant would pop up and I pondered about it as I am not a chef or foodie, but then the answer was obvious. People want to eat when they come here and we can offer them tasty goodies made with our cheeses.
A photo posted by anneline lisa (@anneline_lisa) on Jan 1, 2015 at 10:33am PST
“So although we are not an à la carte restaurant, we do have nice tasty cheese snacks and light meals. We are busy at weekends and it has been well received.”
Downstairs you can buy cheese goodies – fresh and organic from the shop – and through a window you can watch the goats being milked.
This is a great treat for city folk who have never seen the process and the children love it, they especially love buying a bag of goat food and feeding the greedy goats in the fields.
The goats nibble the pellets from little fingers gently and the children find this experience unique and hilarious. Fran has also introduced live music to her monthly Sunday picnics, hiring local musicians who play for the visitors for a small fee.
Fran comes from a farming background and her parents used to be dairy farmers but she always had her heart set on owning goats.
She started with a pair of goats and learnt how to make cheese from books. “It was a trial and error experience but I am now really proud of our products. In the past few years we have also found the market is ready for goat’s milk cheese. Cow’s milk has always been the preference but there are many health benefits to goat’s milk cheese.”
Fran explains that goat’s milk is structured differently to cow’s milk. She says: “Goat’s milk is very healthy because the fat and protein globules are small and the fat doesn’t rise to the surface, it stays assimilated. This contributes to the digestibility of the milk. The fatty acids are different to cow’s milk and are ‘heart smart’.”
Fran supplies local shops and restaurants with her cheese and she has recently been contracted to supply Glen Constantia wine farm in the Cape with baby cheeses for their picnics.
The goats themselves are all characters – they are by nature curious and mischievous and there is nothing more loveable than a baby goat frolicking in the meadows. They exemplify the sheer joy of life.
In the meadows a few late season goat babies are chewing on the summer flowers and mock charging each other as their mothers watch. Fran says she puts the older goats out to pasture when they are past their milking prime and then when they die she buries them.
She says simply: “These goats give their milk to me and I give them a decent life – I think it’s a fair swop.”
l www.swisslandcheese.net
www.midlandsmeander.co.za
Saturday Star