community*
Forest
FUN
MOREWOOD ACTIVITY CENTRE AND THE POTTER SHED HAVE EMERGED FROM THE FOREST, AND ARE GEMS WORTH SUPPORTING, WRITES STEPHEN SMITH
S
ix years ago there was a big, abandoned shell of a house in the middle of a dense forest. Vandals had broken or pillaged just about everything they could. Droves of dassies were living in the roof, and the forest had encroached to the doorstep. Graffiti covered the walls, and dassie dung piled up on the parquet floors. “You could barely see the house from the road,” says Brett Hodgson, “and the driveway was too overgrown to drive down. But the ‘bones’ of the house were there and all I could see was potential.” Fast forward to today and the picture is completely different. The house has been entirely renovated, and Brett has cut trails into the forest for running and mountain biking. “The original property is 22 acres, and I bought the neighbouring properties to make it 56 acres. For years I would find something new on the property almost every time I went for a walk. We’ve found a dam, waterfalls, ruins, even a four-story treehouse. And there’s loads of wildlife too. When I first bought the property I envisaged developing it for people to use – there
32
ABOVE: Brett Hodgson, Cat Todd and Rob Haupt, the Morewood and Potter Shed team. RIGHT: Some say their burgers are the best in town.
aren’t that many big open spaces in Hillcrest where people can run or cycle, and just enjoy the outdoors with their families.” The house itself is now home to The Potter Shed restaurant, and in Rob Haupt Brett has found the perfect man to run the kitchen. With years of experience, Rob knows what it takes to develop a menu that will have people coming back time and again. “Our most popular night is a Wednesday, when we have an evening trail run and a special on pizza and a beer or gin for R100,” Brett mentions. It’s very hard to find anything to beat that for value these days, but the rest of the menu is also very affordable. “Obviously the various Covid lockdowns were tough on us,” says Rob, “and so we came up with a few different offerings. »
w w w . t h e c r e s t o n l i n e . c o . z a
