FOREST FUN

MOREWOOD ACTIVITY CENTRE AND THE POTTER SHED HAVE EMERGED FROM THE FOREST, AND ARE GEMS WORTH SUPPORTING, WRITES STEPHEN SMITH

Six 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

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. »

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We started doing takeaway meals and pizzas, as well as frozen meals including pastas and pizzas. Our extensive vegan range of food, including lasagne, is doing well. And our dessert chef, Cat Todd, is busy developing a range of home-made ice creams that we will sell here and for customers to take home. We also have a smoker now, which adds an extra level of flavour to our food.”

Actually, Cat deserves a special mention too, because she has the knack of making just about any dessert spot on. Her baked cheese cakes have us returning almost weekly, while the red velvet waffles are sensational! She is also the brewer, trained by Megan Gemmel of Clockwork Brewing, and has developed and produced a broad range of craft beers and ciders.

The food at The Potter Shed may be great, but the real attraction of Morewood, and what sets it apart from every other restaurant in the area, are the forest trails. There are trails of different difficulties and distances, so anyone from a child to an accomplished mountain biker can be kept entertained, and you can always combine the different trails if you want to rack up the kilometres.

“We’ve got three trails now: a 5km loop, a 7km loop and an 8km loop, so it’s quite easy to do a 20km ride without repeating yourself too much. There are also nice spots in the forest to stop for a breather,” says Brett. “Another option is to ride the railway track down to Kloof, then come back and finish off with one of our trails before having a meal. And with the size of the property, there is plenty of scope for more trails. We’ve just added a pump track for kids just below the restaurant, so that parents can watch their kids while having a drink. We also organise mushroom foraging walks, and hope to keep coming up with fun things to do here. Once these are finalised we’ll definitely draw a map of the farm.”

Brett is a man of many talents, and for years ran a winery and distillery in the Midlands. He has kept this up and the Old Balgowan spirits, flavoured vodka shots, craft gins, ciders and beers and fortified wines, even mead, are all available from the restaurant. Their petro-chilli sauces are developing a bit of a cult following too, and the herbal iced teas are quite special.

Future plans? “We’re slowly developing and expanding, and hopefully in the near future we’ll be adding a bakery and deli to the offerings. We also want to expand the distillery, brewery and winery side of things, so that people can come and see how everything is done or even try their hand at making their own batch of gin or their favourite tipple. We have loads of other ideas too, like a beer and gin garden, pottery and rock painting activities, art in the forest …”

Rob also has plans of his own, particularly for functions. “We’ve already done some lambs on the spit and build-aburger parties, which went down really well. We also do themes for all the big holidays, like Easter egg hunts and Halloween in the woods, and host kids parties.” *

FOR MORE INFO 64a Springside Road; 066 218 6693; morewoodfarm@gmail.com; for The Potter Shed reservations, phone 079 691 1475.