The story behind the non-opening of The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden Bar is eerily quiet, thanks to vindictive neighbours

So why IS the The Secret Garden still closed?  The (completely subjective) real story.

Because three people want it that way: local building tycoon and Eternal Ray of Sunshine, Ms Lizette Visser, "Henpecked Dave" (the otherwise affable Dave Kopke), together with serial plaintiff and the Valley's very own Michelin Man look-alike, Charl Zaayman, suddenly became über-besties and embarked on a pernicious campaign of bombarding the police, the municipality and the Liquor Authority with a barrage of invidious complaints with one sole objective:  shut The Secret Garden down.  Fulfilling their civic obligations, no doubt.

In March of 2017, after almost four months of meetings, complaints, threats and just generally hostile to-ing and fro-ing, I had had enough of the animosity that existed between Kasteelberg and these three self-righteous individuals.  They clearly hated us because of our "noise", we intensely disliked the fact that our business was being disrupted.  

It was clear that the whole situation was going nowhere.

Our liquor licence was now hanging by a thread, but this was not known to me at the time.  More about that in a next update.

We decided to extend the Olive Branch and via e-mail, invited these Top Three Fans of the 60's hit  "Silence is Golden" as well as their guests to the final summer performance of jazz musician and all-round nice guy, Matthias The German Swallow and his highly skilled ad-hoc band, "The Swartland Swingers" in The Secret Garden.  We duly approached the municipality for permission, which was granted subject to a time limit of 10pm, and we were all set.

This is the reply that I received from the Bossy Builder:

AANDAG:       A. Barnard

                        Kasteelberg Country Inn & Bistro

                        Secret Garden

                       13 Fontein Str

                       RIEBEEK KASTEEL

Ons neem kennis van die onderstaande uitnodiging na die musiek aand /vertoning deur Matthias Geitz op 24/03/2017 wat ons vandag om 11.36 vm ontvang het.

Ons wys dit van die hand om die volgende redes:

1. Eerstens het ons gaste en my prioriteit sal wees om soos gewoonlik na hulle om te sien. 
2. Gaste wat arriveer op 24/03/2017 het alreeds op 19/09/2016 hulle besprekings bevestig.  Ek kan aan geen rede dink dat hulle sou bespreek het wetende dat daar n musikale optrede reg langsaan sal plaasvind  en alles daarop dui dat dit rusverstorend sal wees.
3. Daar is reeds al verskeie rusverstorings sake teen Kasteelberg Bistro / Secret Garden aanhange gemaak by verskeie wetstoepassings instansies.  Ten spyte daarvan het u nog geen poging aangewend om die rusverstorings klagte en of versoeke vanaf wetstoepassings offisiere te gehoorsaam nie.
4. Ons en ons gaste stel geensins daarin belang om deel te wees van die rusverstorings nie. 

Ons stel dit dus baie duidelik aan u sou u voortgaan met hierdie musiek aand / vertoning:

1. Ek sal die Wetstoepassingsbeamptes onmiddellik in kennis stel van die geraas gedurende die funksie.
2. Ek sal op 25/03/2017 n formele rusverstorings saak by SAPS in Riebeek Wes maak teen Kasteelberg Bisto / Secret Garden indien hierdie musiek aand / vertoning  voortgaan.  
3.  Indien ons gaste a.g.v die geraas van die musiek aand / vetoning  wat u beplan,  n eis instel teen KATARINAS, sal daar van u verwag word om  hulle ten volle te vergoed vir hulle ongerief.   

Ons wil weereens dit duidelik stel dat geen toestemming sal gegee word vir enige funksie  by Kasteelberg Bistro / Secret Garden wat teenstrydig is met die wetgewing en regulasies t.o.v. geraasorde.

Die uwe

Lizette Visser

KATARINAS

24 Hoofstraat

RIEBEEK KASTEEL

7307

This is the reply that I received from Docile Dave:

Without prejudice :

For the attention of :  A.Barnard

                                      Station Commander Majiet, Riebeek West SAPS

Mr. Barnard,

Re : Invitation 24 March 2017

Thank you for your invitation to attend your Live Music Evening this coming Friday night but unfortunately we will be unable to attend due to following reasons which you have caused :

1. Firstly we have guests that evening and our first priority is to look after them as they are coming for a quiet evening in the valley.
2. Your total disregard for the privacy of people/property owners/old people in the immediate vicinity, guests from out of town etc.
3. The problems you have created for us and our guests with your extremely loud music both live and recorded music.
4. The noise emanating from the Secret Garden even when only background music is being played, this noise involves shouting, swearing, screaming etc not to mention the after party that happens on the square, the drunk people that drive off in their cars hooting, spinning wheels etc.
5. The fact that even although we have reported the noise disturbance to SAPS on numerous occasions, even after warnings from the Liquor Board, SAPS and Municipal Officials you continue to operate as if there is absolutely no problem which only leads us to believe that you have absolutely no respect for the laws of the land, the Liquor Board, SAPS and your fellow man whether it harms their businesses or not !!
6. The fact that you tell us that you are having a Live Event and not even ask for permission from the surrounding neighbours to hear whether it is alright with them before going ahead with the planning !!
7. You are obviously aware that there are already cases against you/Kasteelberg Bistro/Secret Garden for disturbance/noise and that we are already in the process of instituting action against you and if you should continue in the manner you have we will have no alternative but to lodge further cases/complaints against you.

Please note that we will not give permission for any event to take place which is against the law and the well being of the residents and visitors of Riebeek Kasteel !!

Dave Kopke

The Guesthouse @Kopke Classic Cars

23 Main Road

Riebeek Kasteel

The ever polite Charl Zaayman honoured his Vow of Silence and never bothered  to reply.

This is my reply to them, the municipality and the Liquor Authority. (warning: long read but well worth it if you want to know both sides of the story)

From: Allan Barnard
Sent: 23 March 2017 02:36 PM
Subject: Reply

Ms Visser

Mr Kopke

Your regrettable replies to my “olive branch” invitation to what promises to be a fun village event refer.

It is disappointing that you have both elected to adopt such a hostile and antagonistic attitude, if only because we have never shown any hostility towards any of you, despite your best efforts to ruin our business with your constant barrage of baseless and spiteful complaints and despite your own transgressions of the very issues you are accusing us of.

It is a pity that you both appear blissfully unaware of the Valley’s severe drug abuse problem and that the police have far graver issues to attend to than checking if the Rolling Stones are singing too loudly at a neighbourhood gathering place where the locals love to go with their families in summer.  I find it puzzling that you seemingly have no problem wasting the Police’s time and taxpayers money with such trifling and self-serving complaints.  In my humble opinion, I cannot comprehend that you are so completely oblivious to the fact that every time a police van is summoned to The Secret Garden, it potentially prevents them from stopping another “tikkop” from breaking in at another Villager’s house, the incidences of which have been abnormally frequent in the past few months.

We unfortunately have to disagree with both your assertions that we have made no effort to obey the law and keep noise levels down.  Any regular customer of the Secret Garden will attest that when faced with unduly boisterous patrons, we have at times been impolitely strict to try and enforce the complete silence that you so clearly but unreasonably crave and which is so utterly contrary to the very premise of a open-air bar/restaurant, which, if I may respectfully point out, is ultimately meant to be a place to have fun and, by the way, existed in the Valley long before both your businesses.  Like you, we have the right to exist and operate our business any way we see fit within the law and have peacefully been doing for 14 years.  Simply because you believe that we are not conforming to your standards of running a business or within the framework of the law does not make this is a fact.  It is simply your opinion.

Over and above the above measure, we insist to our protesting, not-too-happy patrons that our background music has to be turned down by 11:30 and completely off by midnight at the latest.  From 11:30, we stop selling alcohol and make every effort to get loyal patrons to leave, much as we hate chasing them away.  This happens mostly on weekends, or three days of the week.  Furthermore, we have consistently declined requests from locals for live music acts since December as a direct result of your repetitive complaints, you’ll undoubtedly be pleased to hear.  In addition, we have steadfastly adhered to directives from both the police and the Liquor Board.  You are either deliberately unaware or blatantly dishonest if you insist that we have made no effort to work within the framework of the law or to acquiesce to your presumptuous demands, as if yours are the only two businesses in the Valley that deserve respect and that we should operate our business according to your norms and standards.

We unfortunately also have to disagree with your one-sided pronouncement that we have total disregard for our neighbours.  In the 14 years that Kasteelberg Bistro has operated in Riebeek Kasteel, we have had a fantastic relationship with our immediate neighbours.  They have been exceptionally tolerant and receptive to what we are trying to achieve, which is to attract more visitors to the Valley by providing an experience that is unique and memorable.  Where else in the Valley can they go in summer where there’s a pool, a convivial atmosphere, an open-air restaurant and bar and where their dogs and kids are welcome?  I will gladly collect evidence in this regard if required to do so.  In the years that we have been part of this community, we can empirically count on one hand the number of formal complaints from neighbours.  Why are you so hell-bent on spoiling everyone’s fun?

It is worth noting that we have had more complaints in the past three months (all instigated by you and especially since you decided to team up and harass us), than in the previous 13 years.  The fact that you approached the Valley’s most infamous serial complainer, Charl Saayman, came as no surprise to us, as he represents at least 95% of the complaints and harassment we and other hospitality establishments in the Valley have had to suffer over the years.  By all accounts, not even the municipality takes him seriously anymore, simply because he has proven himself to be one of the most intolerant, cantankerous and unreasonable human beings they (and us) have ever had to deal with.  Senior officials in the municipality might, of course,deny this for economic self-interest but you simply have to make enquiries “subject to anonymity” to uncover the truth.  Incidentally, he famously complained to the municipality about his neighbour’s squeaking windmill in his heyday.  I would hazard a guess that Mr Saayman, widely detested as he reportedly is by most of his fellow villagers, is extremely pleased that he has found “comrades in arms” in the two of you.

Incidentally, a person in the know reported that the Liquor Authority, when dealing with consistent complaints about a licence holder, also consider the phenomenon of “trade objections”, where a competitor incessantly complains to all authorities in order to eliminate such competition.  You have unwittingly displayed such tendencies, Ms Visser, by declaring that you have already made up your mind that ANY sound from the Secret Garden will be seen as a disturbance and reported as such.

You are, Mr Kopke, welcome to your opinion that we have no respect for “the laws of the land”, the SAPS, the Liquor Board or my fellow man.  With respect, I am outraged by this uninformed opinion and reject it out of hand, simply because it is so patently untrue.  I would venture that very few of the thousands of customers whom we have served over the years would agree with your irrational and unfair judgement.

This beggars the question: would such an uninformed judgement, that I have “no respect for my fellow man”, apply to youwhen you rev your rebuilt cars’ engines excessively outside your garage?  Or when Ms Visser’s partner, Phil, drives up and down Fontein Street daily with two ostensibly vicious dogs at the back of his extremely noisy truck, maniacally barking at nothing in particular ALL THE WAY?  Or that you have proudly parked one of the most unattractive vehicular apparitions called “Pinky”, which is totally contrary to the character of the village, as some sort of fun trophy in your front garden?  Or is perceived noise the only thing to be considered offensive?  What if some villagers find “Pinky” distasteful?  And why has the municipality not asked you to remove it?  I would suggest it’s because, unlike you, no one has bothered to complain about such triviality.  Yet you have taken it upon yourselves to complain to anyone who would bother listening about a business that has been a sterling contributor to the village’s very fibre, community spirit and economic growth.  Do you know that Kasteelberg supports 10 families in the Valley by providing work?  Do you know that Kasteelberg and The Secret Garden attract hundreds of visitors every year?

I am, in a word, astounded by your arrogance and sense of self-importance.

Equally mind-boggling is the childish stubbornness displayed by you, Ms Visser, when you state you can think of no reason why your guests would want to stay at your establishment knowing there is a musical event next door.   Even without a musical event, I would bet that you never informed them that your ill-conceived guest rooms are situated right next door to a public gathering place that has been there for ten years longer than yours.  Would they have booked knowing this?  Your websites certainly make no mention of it.  And for you to unequivocally state that your guests would have no interest in attending is the worst form of arrogant obstinacy I have ever witnessed.  How in God’s name do you know this with such absolute certainty, unless they are family or friends of yours with the same inflexibility and intolerance as you so proudly show off?  And how can you be so presumptuous as to decide on behalf of your guests?  You are clearly unaware that the vast majority of your guests have had a great time in The Secret Garden over the few years that your guest rooms have existed.

What you both have seemed to have lost sight of, is that Kasteelberg also has sleep-over guests.  Virtually every weekend.  And like you, we also make it our mission to make them as comfortable as possible.  You would probably find it incomprehensible that we have never received a complaint from any of them over the years.  And are you aware, that of the 139 reviews on your booking.com page, Ms Visser, and the 33 reviews on yours, Mr Kopke, NOT ONE complains about the Secret Garden?  Unless you count the single comment about screaming kids at the pool, to which you replied that our pool is there also for the enjoyment of Katarina’s guests?  In fact, most of the complaints on both your web pages are about street traffic noise, another fact of life that is not mentioned on either of your websites.  Yet you, Ms Visser, treats every one of those complaints not with humility, but with your usual snootiness by dismissively pointing out to your guests that they stayed in the “cheap” room and what did they expect?  Taking cognisance of the many compliments you receive, the other major complaint that appears most frequently on your booking.com website is your poor water pressure, which you consistently and dishonestly blame on the non-existing “fact” that because we live in a small village, we are all automatically subjected to poor water pressure all the time.  This is blatant nonsense and your deceit will eventually be exposed.  I cannot help but wonder what the folks at the Tourism Office will make of this, essentially since it could scare off potential visitors and investors in the Valley.  .

With all due respect, Ms Visser, I have never been able to fathom how you, with your abrasive and bullying manner, could possibly land up in the hospitality industry.  This was cleared up for me when a fellow villager recounted how you, at a recent function, declared how much you HATE this industry and how you can’t STAND dealing with guests and their whining ways.  Could your motivation then only have been greed and is this possibly why you see Kasteelberg as such a threat?  Or is this seeming inability or unwillingness to cope be the motivation why you would so love to see the demise of our business?

You both self-righteously declare that you would never “give permission” for any event to ever be held in The Secret Garden.  I am simply astonished that you could even assume that we need your permission.  Would this include our annual Christmas lunch for underprivileged kids?  How about our summer classical evenings to raise funds for local cancer sufferers?    Speaking of permission, Ms Visser; you have obviously forgotten that when you approached us for neighbourhood approval of your rezoning, we readily signed in favour of your plans?  And that we never complained to the police when your builders started up their engines at 7am in the morning for months on end?  With your sudden interest in the validity of my liquor licence and my building line, you have clearly forgotten that there are apparently still issues with your own rezoning.

With both your business right next to the busiest, noisiest road in the Valley, surely you both realize that there is zero chance of your guests ever enjoying “a quiet weekend”, even if Kasteelberg did not exist?  What on earth are you going to do about the Go-Kart Derby?  Spoil that too?  Do you not know that this is no longer the quiet, out-of-the-way village it was ten years ago?  And as unreasonable as I think you are, Ms Visser, even YOU have to admit that the Secret Garden is nowhere NEAR the irritation levels that your own creation, Dukes in Riebeek West, was to residents of that village.  One merely has to follow the trail of comments on Facebook to come to this conclusion.  And, Mr Kopke, for the record:  despite our most concerted efforts (including a sign to this effect at the exit), we have no control over people who speak loudly outside the Secret Garden, just as we have no control over drunk farm workers sauntering up Main Rd on a Friday afternoon, passing both your establishments, cussing at the top of their voices.  I have video evidence of this.

We are often asked by guests what there is to do on weekends in the Valley.  We like to believe that The Secret Garden provides an entertaining destination that is much loved by tourists and locals alike, as surprising as this might be to you.  Contrary to your own persuasions, there are people who want to have some fun when they come spend time in the countryside, even when it gets rowdy at times.

Since you are both seemingly so hell-bent on destroying my business and since you, Ms Visser, have clearly stated your spiteful and pre-conceived intentions with regards to our musical event on Friday, let me state mine:  I eagerly await our day in court but in the interim, you have now forced me to do take this issue to the court of public opinion.  I intend, from tomorrow morning, placing a comprehensive series of posts, including this exchange of correspondence, about this sorry saga on all the Valley-related Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as the local newsletter, with all the facts from the very genesis of our unpleasant relationship and your ill-conceived decision to build guest rooms right next to an extremely noisy road on the one side and a popular summer destination on the other.  Then we can properly gauge how the rest of Riebeek Kasteel folk feel about The Secret Garden being forced to close down.  I will also mention Mrs Kopke’s recent insistence that the coloured kids who are fed on the village square each week, be taken somewhere else to play their soccer.  I am also seeking legal advice as to the merits of laying a charge of harassment with the police.  I also intend publishing your and my letters in the two local newspapers next week.  As you are probably aware, they love a story like this, especially the Gazette.

As for your preposterous suggestion, Ms Visser, that we should compensate your guests if they make any claim towards you, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read that.  I’m sorry, but it is simply delusional.  With the malice that seemingly comes so naturally to you, I suspect you would gleefully encourage them to do so, even if they have no inclination to complain.  However, if you do receive any claims, I suggest you retrieve such funds from the commission you promised to pay us when we sent you our overflow guests back when you were just starting up, and never did.  Not even once.  Not even a thank you.  Do you know how many of your guests still turn up at our door, enquiring about where they should check in?

I would like to end off this draining monologue by appealing to you both to try a little more tolerance and neighbourliness.  Surely you are not oblivious to the benefit of working together?  On Friday night, there are guests from no less than four other guest houses in the village attending Matthias’s performance.  Are you really so mean that you want to spoil everyone’s fun?  For your information, the band has been directed to wrap up their performance by 10pm.  This is no guarantee that there will be NO noise after 10pm, but it is a clear indication of our bona fides, contrary to your unswerving belief that we don’t care about our neighbourhood.

What if you approached this from a completely different angle and tried to see Kasteelberg and The Secret Garden as an asset to the Valley, as most local folks do?  A summer COMMUNITY destination where your guests can go relax, meet the locals and have some fun?  We could long ago have reached a mutually beneficial arrangement where we direct our overflow guests to your establishments and you send your guests to The Secret Garden for a complimentary glass of whatever and to meet the locals.  Ms Visser, I realize that you misguidedly view Katarinas as the “Mount Nelson of the Riebeek Valley”, but let’s be honest, most of your guests are here to attend a wedding or some other function, not for your snazzy linen or, Mr Kopke, absolute silence the minute the sun goes down.  Speaking of weddings, we have never complained to the police when Katarina’s guests arrive back drunk from a wedding at 3am in the morning, speaking at the top of their voices even though the Secret Garden had closed hours back.  In fact, we have never complained to the police about anything our neighbours do, even in the Barn’s heyday, where raucous wedding receptions went on well beyond a reasonable hour, or local birthday parties.

Should we not rather be talking?  Without threats and attempts to prescribe how we should run our business?

I eagerly await your responses.

Allan Barnard

Up to now, I have not followed through on my threat to make this issue public, but apart from the loss of income and the daily enquiries about whether The Secret Garden will be opening at all, I have subsequently discovered that Ms Visser, a.k.a. Lady of The Ring, has had a secret of her own all along!

That's in my next update.

Best
Allan

Matthias Geitz