{"id":188,"date":"2024-08-28T10:35:08","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T10:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T11:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:17:13","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"about us – Lourens River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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about us<\/h2>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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MEET THE TEAM<\/h1>\n
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    \u2731<\/div>\n <\/div>Thomas, chef, owner manager (born 1965); his passion: braaing, race drone flying, 3D printing and definitely a handy man, hard-working
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    \u2731<\/div>\n <\/div>Elke, the right, left and fifth hand (born 1965); hobbies: reading, nature, chocolate
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    \u2731<\/div>\n <\/div>The crew:
    Chris: keen gardener and car cleaner, works for us since January 2020
    Priscilla: marvellouse maid and cleaning lady, works for us for a long time
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    BEHIND THE SCENCES
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     Thomas & Elke immigrated to South Africa in September\n1997 from Germany after visiting the country twice before. During our first\nholiday in January 1996 we decided to check what it takes to work and live in\nSouth Africa. Our application for a temporary residence permit with a work\npermit for Thomas took 1 \u00bd years to be approved. 
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    We bought this property in January 1998 and have been\nresiding here ever since. Apart from a time back in Germany in 2002. 
    Philip was born in 2000. hobbies: soccer, gaming, his\nfriends 
    In 2003 we opened the guest house. 
    Tatjana was born in 2004. hobbies: sport, her friends 
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    We applied for permanent residence permit and received this\nstatus in December 2009. All four of us are German citizens and very happy to\nlive in South Africa.   
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    Why SA?<\/h2>\n

    There are more reasons than just one. The most important one was the challenge of working and living in a foreign country and secondly because South Africa has a very good infrastructure. Also the climate and landscape, the friendliness and welcoming of the people are high on the list. A good friend of us but it in a simple sentence: \u201cIn Germany one lives to work; in South Africa one works to live.\u201d  <\/p>\n

    What else do we do besides the guest house?<\/h2>\n

    We established a second leg to the business where we rent our cars and therefore offer shuttle service.  Thomas being the handyman always finds something to invent, maintain or repair.    Elke is the admistrator for the business.
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    Why did it change to accommodation only?<\/h2>\n

    During the lockdown period caused by a pandemic, we changed our room layouts to four apartments that are rented out on a permanent\/long-term basis to tenants and not to guests.
    It is not feasible to change the two rooms on first floor into rental units. Somerset West offers plenty of restaurants and \u200bcaf\u00e9s that service delicous breakfast.
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    about us MEET THE TEAM \u2731 Thomas, chef, owner manager (born 1965); his passion: braaing, race drone flying, 3D printing and definitely a handy man, hard-working \u2731 Elke, the right, left and fifth hand (born 1965); hobbies: reading, nature, chocolate \u2731 The crew:Chris: keen gardener and car cleaner, works for us since January 2020Priscilla: marvellouse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-188","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301,"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/188\/revisions\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lourensriver.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}