It’s been 3 years since Rob and I took on Kings Grant from my mother Cheryl Biggs. We came into the business with big ideas and we’ve dived in wholeheartedly with 120% commitment! To us it’s much more than just a guesthouse, a restaurant and a means to make money! It’s a vehicle we are driving that gives us and our guests the opportunity to learn and try new things, to grow, to meet and connect with diverse groups of people and it provides us with challenges of many kinds!

But just recently, we have been faced with a few extra big challenges including one many of us are feeling – the effects of a struggling economy. With that, industries such as hospitality and tourism are often the first to feel the pinch. Times are tough and many small businesses are facing potential closure. It’s times like now that we must pause, reflect and reassess. And importantly, we need to be open to new ideas and new ways. If you want a different outcome, you can’t keep on doing the same thing.

The beauty of adversity is that we have a choice to be defeated by it or we can treat it as an indication of how we need to grow and go forward. In our case, the adversity we are experiencing has made our way forward very clear to us. We must diversify and start farming!

With time, the ‘working farm’ will become the Kings Grant experience and we will steadily work towards being as self-sufficient as possible, just as our predecessors did so well – the Trappist Monks. This includes becoming more self-sufficient in the way of food supply and energy and being locked into a way of life dependent on big consumer driven organisations and thinking. It embraces a growth and more holistic mind set. And importantly, it provides us with an alternative income to hospitality. When those quiet months hit as they do every year, the farm kicks in. No doubt, this will be a journey of learning, as it already is.

 

In December last year, we planted a small crop of beans. They’ve just been harvested and we’ve been using our staff to sort the beans, a time consuming process! It’s also come at a very quiet month and it’s shown us how helpful diversifying can be if the harvest time happens during quiet hospitality times. It’s the difference between going into huge debt or taking drastic cost-cutting measures to survive. This bean season has not only given us hope and a way forward but it contributes to building a cohesive, flexible and resilient team. Everyone is chipping in with the process. Some might even say that ‘bean sorting’ is a form of therapy! That manual work such as this, of separating the good beans from the bad beans, is relaxing work. Not much thought process is needed to do it, but the act of sorting beans, is BEAN very helpful and much needed! Perhaps a simple and laborious task like this in a space like Kings Grant is also something that can be healing, calming and even meditative for our guests who are possibly struggling with burn-out or anxiety, or who simply experience pleasure through acts of service.

It’s also been very satisfying seeing our banquet hall diversify and being used for its original purpose, of farming. We’re even using the old scale from the mill to weigh our beans!

There is a feeling of ‘hope and purpose’ here at Kings Grant despite the challenges we are facing right now. Just having a clear direction

forward is a good position to be in and we are feeling grateful for the clarity this time has given us. It will also lead to changes in the way we do things and what we offer. I think our business motto for this next big chapter will be Labore et Spe, By work and hope!

Slowly we will grow into this new space and step by step ‘grow our dream!’

Keep updated on our farming progress and follow us via our blog, on Facebook (Kings Grant Country Retreat) or on Instagram. (Kings Grant Country Retreat and Restaurant) Or even better, come and visit us here in Ixopo and see for yourself what Kings Grant is all about.

To make a booking, call our reservations office: 039 8342 730.

“Hope is not a strategy, but it is a starting point. Work turns it into something real.” – Anonymous