Devin Stickells
Strawberry Hill Farm is not a strawberry farm! The name comes from the wild strawberries that used to grow here. The farm is part of the original Grootvadersbosch Moodie estate, which has been in the Moodie family since the 1800s. ​The farm is surrounded by indigenous forest and is a magical place to mountain bike, trail run, swim, kloof, read a book or learn about the inspiring conservation projects that are taking place in the area. The farm is on the boundary of the Grootvadersbosch Nature Reserve and is part of the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy. The property is slowly being restored to indigenous vegetation, with a focus on forest restoration. Existing small pine plantations and rough growing blackwood are being harvested and replaced with indigenous species.

Aileen and Walter moved from the bustle of Cape Town to the Grootvadersbosch Valley 2 years ago.  Aileen's is the third generation of the Moodie family to be living in the valley. 

Walter is passionate about building awesome mountain bike trails. He has two engineering degrees with a masters in renewable energy. The farm's energy is partly solar generated and more panels will come on line soon. Walter manages the farm sawmill, develops renewable energy projects and mostly builds mountain bike trails. Walter is Belgian and speaks Flemish, Dutch, French, German, English, Afrikaans, Spanish and a bit of Thai. 

Aileen is passionate about riding her bike on Walter's awesome trails and raising funds to build more. She has 2 environmental master's degrees with a focus on water resource management but much prefers spending her time managing the Grootvadersbosch Conservancy and keeping 132 rural people employed in environmental projects. Aileen and Walter both continue to be involved in water and energy projects through their company crossflowconsulting. (OSM data version: 2016-12-14T16:41:03Z) #mapsme