George is a thriving commercial centre, but it is golf that has put the town on the modern tourist map. There are a number of courses in the area and more are being built all the time. In fact, all over the Garden Route, plantations and forests are slowly being eroded by the smooth greens of the common golfer.
And this pest is spreading. Already golf courses have been seen eating up the coastal thicket on the South Coast of Natal, and there are rumours that golfing estates are breeding near Ballito. The current mania for an upmarket golfing experience had one of its earliest progenitors in the form of Fancourt, a gracious golf estate near George. Fancourt is built around a beautifully restored Victorian manor house, now a National Monument, and therein lies a funny story.
Fancourt was originally the home of one Henry Fancourt White. He was the engineer who had supervised the building of nearby Montagu Pass over the Outeniqua Mountains. Grateful for his work on the new pass, the people of George helped White build a country house at Blanco; a small village that had grown around the base camp for the pass labourers, and subtly named after the shy engineer. The original manor house was built in the late 1850’s but, sadly, ten years later, White lost both his money and his lovely estate. He died shortly afterwards.
The History of Fancourt
Deprived of his inheritance, White’s son went to the gold fields of the Mpumalanga to make his fortune. The estate, meanwhile, passed through several hands until, White Jnr. returned to Blanco in 1903. He had made a packet on the Highveld, apparently helped by some dubious dealings with President Paul Kruger, and bought back his family farm at a public auction.
Earnest Montagu White then renamed the estate Fancourt, after his father, and enjoyed spending the English winters in the warmth of the Garden Route, sipping Pimm’s on the patio and walking through the woods. Things seemed to be looking up for the White’s, but fate had a nasty trick in store. In 1916, Montagu threw a lavish dinner party.
The main course was topped off with wild mushrooms picked by White himself. Unfortunately, White was not clued up on his fungi and, by the end of the evening, Montagu, his sister and a friend were dead from food poisoning. To this day, guests and former owners tell of White ghosts wandering through the dark corridors.
The Fancourt estate subsequently stood empty for many years, slowly falling into disrepair. In 1960, the house was bought and restored by a Dr. Krynauw. It was then sold several more times, finally opening as a golf estate and hotel in 1989. In 1993, the current owners bought the estate out of liquidation and built the place up to its present glory; golfer’s shorts and short golfers notwithstanding.
By David Fleminger
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