Akker&Eik Estate · Tulbagh

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Three generations,
one oak avenue.

Hans Theunissen built the house in 1782. His great-great-great-grandchildren are still here. The current owners took over from their parents in 2014.

Liesbet and Hannes on the farm

Liesbet & Hannes Theunissen

Two farmers,
and a wedding venue
by accident.

Liesbet grew up here, in the homestead, the third generation of her family to do so. Hannes came from a wine farm outside Wellington and married into both Liesbet and the property in 2007. We have two boys, ten and twelve, plus a black dog called Rooi.

We never set out to be a wedding venue. We hosted Liesbet's sister's wedding in 2013, then her cousin's the year after, then a friend of a friend asked and then we stopped being able to say no. We are still primarily a working farm (vines, oaks, sheep) and we want to stay that way. Hence forty.

Liesbet & Hannes

A long history, briefly

242 years,
in six lines.

1782

Hans Theunissen, a Cape farmer, builds the homestead. The same year, he plants the first oak alongside the entrance, now an enormous tree that splits the avenue from the gate.

1808

The whitewashed chapel and the oak avenue are completed by Hans's son. Both still stand. The bell in the chapel has not been replaced.

1968

The Theunissen family (direct descendants) buy the farm back after seventy years away. Three generations of restoration begin.

2014

The chapel and the rose garden are restored. The first weddings (small, family) happen in the chapel that summer.

2021

The 1782 stable is restored over two years and becomes the werf hall. The estate begins hosting larger weddings the same year.

2024

Forty weddings hosted in the year. The cap is not negotiable.

A few quiet rules

What we try to do.

01

Forty weddings a year, not one more. We are at every wedding, ourselves. If we cannot be, we don't take the booking.

02

Venue-only. We don't sell catering, florals or photography. You pick the people you want and we work with them.

03

Slow weddings. Two-night weekends. Sunday brunch. Let it happen. Most things we love about a wedding are the things you didn't plan.

The vineyards at first light

The other 325 days

Still a working
farm, mostly.

We grow Chenin, Cabernet and a little Syrah on twenty-eight hectares. The fruit goes to one of two cellars in the valley. We keep a small flock of Dorper sheep on the higher slopes for grass control and the occasional Sunday roast.

The avenue, the chapel, the dam, the werf: they were not built for weddings and they are not only for weddings. We live here. The farm runs five days a week with or without you and we like it that way.

  • 28 ha vineyard (Chenin, Cabernet, Syrah)
  • 120 ha grazing for the Dorper flock
  • WIETA-certified ethical farm
  • Five families on the property full-time

The team

A small team,
on every wedding.

The people you meet at the walk-through are the people running your dinner service. We don't bring in outside agency staff for the weddings.

Liesbet Theunissen

Owner / farmer

Hannes Theunissen

Owner / wines

Maria de Beer

Head coordinator

Pieter Booysen

Werf manager

Riana Witbooi

Bride's House

Elias Madonsela

Cellar & bar