Barrydale Farm School Development Fund
As part of our efforts toward responsible travel and impacting the communities we find ourselves in, we include visits to rural farm schools in some of our guided tours travelling between Cape Town and the Garden Route. With every visit to a local farm school in Barrydale, a portion of the trip monies go towards our Barrydale Farm School Development Fund, that supports local education of underprivileged children in rural communities.
Weltevrede Primary School, Akkerboom Primary School and Vleiplaas Primary School in Barrydale are rural schools for the children of local farm workers, built in the 1960s by the farmers in the area. The schools usually have 40-60 children aged between six years and fourteen years attending classes. For a number of years, Terence Cozett (one of our tour guides) had been making unscheduled stops at the schools, so that guests on tour could have an opportunity to interact with
a local rural community. These visits often featured as a highlight of the whole tour.
Based on the overwhelming positive feedback from our guests, it was decided to include these visits as a scheduled stop on our Garden Route tours. We realized that our guests were interested in an authentic experience and opportunity to meet with rural communities away from the tourist routes. We continue to support these farm schools through our guided community visits and annual Christmas donations.
