Farm history:

The history of this farm called Tuinplaas starts from the lonely gravestone of Hester Jacoba Isabella Joubert, born Branken. This gravestone is situated under the oak trees in the garden.

The Joubert progenitor came during the “Grote Trek” from Swellendam in the Eastern Cape to the Free State and lived on the farm Roodebloem, district Petrus Steyn. Their son participated as young man in the Basotho war and the farm Tuinplaas has been given to him by the Free State government who wanted to populate the border with Lesotho.

The widow of the Joubert progenitor, Hester Jacoba Isabella stayed after his death with her son on Tuinplaas. She was 64 years old at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer war in 1899 and she remained alone on Tuinplaas when her son joins the Free State army. Her son is after the surrender one of the command members who escapes through the Golden Gate (He will be captured later and was deported to Ceylon) and the house was therefore burned down a few months later.

The widow escapes over the Caledon River border and finds shelter with friendly Basotho people.

Her son continued to farm after the war on Tuinplaas, the new house was finished in 1904 and he married just thereafter. The couple raised eight children on Tuinplaas, five sons and three daughters from which two are still alive (April 2005) namely Hester Jacoba Isabella Besaans (born Joubert) born in 1920 and Helena Christina Flockeman (born Joubert) . Their brother Daan Joubert, who has farmed on Tuinplaas till his death in 1983, was officially not married.  He remained for practical reasons bachelor until his death.

The farm was sold in 1992 to Carl Swarts, thereafter to a van Wyk, later to Johan van Rooyen and in October 2004 to the Dutchman Marcel Brouwers.