Winding our way home, we visited Ficksburg, cherry capital of the Free State, in search of cherry jam, preserves and schnapps. Here we just happened on a unique little country store, Die Blik Plek, roughly translated, The Tin Place. Housed in a restored Victorian beauty, adorned by broekie-lace ironwork, the store is the brainchild of the petite and dynamic, Ansie Fourie.
Ansie must have bought up every bit of scrap iron for miles around; the rustier, the better. Together with her staff, she is hammering, cutting, welding and painting one man's junk into every woman's treasure.
The area behind the shop is filled with the whimsical and the witty, the nostalgic and the unexpected. Welcome signs, chimes made of old kettles and teapots, bric a brac, tin roses, mirrors in battered wash tubs, bicycles and bumpers, old gates, old prams. This was a treat. "Jou plek is wonderlik!" (Your place is stunning!)
"Ek is so-o-o-o bly jy geniet dit! Ek is so-o-o-o bly dit is vir jou mooi!" (I'm thrilled you are enjoying it! I am so pleased you find it attractive!"
Fancy an oranate frame to hang, with or without content, on your verandah wall? That was my choice but a little to bulky to tuck under the seat of SA Espress, the intercity jet. I opted for a tin angel instead.
Or fancy a dented teapot in a weathered frame?
Ansie has planted a garden in old school satchels...
and an easy-growing rosette succulent in every boot.
A tongue-in-the-cheek tin sign: Man gelos, hond gehou. Do you really want a translation? Ok, then. Left husband; kept the dog! 
Driving through Ficksburg? Want to make a turn at Die Blik Plek? Just keep a look out for the battered wreck on the lawn. You're there! 
19 comments:
Thanks so much for the tour of Die Blik Plek! What a charming way to recycle! (I covet one of those frames.)
Oh I love this place, Eleanor! How whimsical and creative. Succulents in old shoes and satchels, what surprises! I like the kettle in the frame too.
(I don't think I'll be allowed to collect lots of things like this in our garden at Necky Knoll House, though!!!)
How enchanting Eleanor! You post are always so delightful!!!!! I love that place!
Carol
Most importantly: did you get the cherry jam and the schnapps?
Kat
Oh what a delightful place. I really will go and look it up when next we're in the area! Using old shoes as "flower pots"!! I love it!
Interesting, There's a place in Florida called, Tin City.
What an amazing place! It seems like you could explore it for days and not see everything.
what a great place to stop and browse at...loved the shoes and succulents.
and the teapot on the frame...cute.
have a wonderful wednesday.
I would definitely love to browse around that place, i so love the shoes and their succulents:D quite cute!
Interesting place, everywhere you turned you found items of interest, but did you find your cherry Jam?
looks like a very quirky place to visit..
What a great place. I did not know that you had a cherry growing area in your country. Now I know! Very interesting post and great pictures.
Very interesting vintage there..nice shtos.
Hi, Eleanor! LOVED this post...such variation! I so enjoyed that trip to the "junk" place...that is my kind of place--"trash to treasure" and everything in between. :o) The churches are beautiful...wonderful architecture. Thanks for taking us along! And so glad you stopped in to see me :o) Busy weeks lately have had me not being able to visit around as much as usual...such is life--LOL! Happy Days ((HUGS))
Such a lovely tour, thank you very much! I just love finding such places.
Eleanor,
I would love kicking around "The Tin Place" with you - it is one of my favorite things to do! I love the creativity and wit that abounds in your photos of The Tin Place.
Thanks for stopping by and a very Happy Mother's Day to you also!
Love,
Jean
What an interesting and fun place to visit. Dearest Eleanor, hope this finds you well, safe, and at peace. Do you have "summers" off?
Alexandra
Ansie Fourie, the owner of the Blikplek, is currently recovering from a heart attack on Monday 9/11/09. She will have a bypass in a Public hospital in Bloemfontein only in January... due to no medical insurance. As bubbly, friendly and enthusiastic as we all know her, she is still optemistic and trying to stay on her feet to make a success of the Cherry Festival this week in Ficksburg. Please pray with us for her well-being.
Great site, very impressive.
clomid
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