Sunbird Lodge – A Brief History
Sunbird Lodge was originally built in 1967 by the Palabora Mining Company (PMC) and was used as a mine manager’s house. It was then sold privately to a PMC employee in the 1990’s. The house then became available for sale in 2004, with the owner retiring and moving away from the area.
It was then purchased in 2004 by Kathy and Robert Barnatt with a view to turning it into a Guest House. After the appropriate planning and re-zoning permission was received, work began on converting the existing house. Swimming Pool buildings were converted to Guest rooms, Lapas were erected, the garden tidy up began and the existing main house rooms were upgraded and altered to have access from the gardens. The cottages beyond the swimming pool were also purchased and converted to self catering units.
Work started in November 2007 on the building of 2 more rooms at the end of the main house. More rooms are planned for the future, but our aim is not to destroy the peace and harmony of the gardens and the feeling of space which we have, as we are situated in over 2,5 acres of land.
In September 2011 work began on converting the existing cottage into 3 good sized standard rooms. Completed in November 2011 these rooms are known as our Garden rooms and bring our total number of rooms up to 10.
The Guesthouse is run on a day to day basis by Kathy and Robert’s daughter Samantha and her husband Dave ( an expat Brit) who have both worked in the travel industry for many many years. Now coming up to being operational for 18 years in February 2023, the Lodge is still a “work in progress,” with changes and improvements being made all the time. We hope you like it and can see what we are trying to achieve here.
Enjoy your time with us and, hopefully, you will be back again in the future!
