Thomas River Historical Village

Thomas River, named in 1801, takes its name from an English deserter, Thomas Bentley. Part of Van Der Kemps missionary, Bentley was killed by a poison Bushman Arrow while crossing the river, thus duly named Thomas River.
The original train station, sited between the stone forts, dates from the late 1870’s with the new station coming into being in 1926.  The station saw its last train in 1948 when the new line opened.
Thomas River Historical Village, reborn in 2003, has been passionately restored by Jeff and Ann Sansom to take you back to yesteryear.
Please feel free to explore the village at your leisure including the Private Library, Wagon Museum, Cultural Museum, Motor Museum and the many other quirky and interesting collections throughout the Ramble Restaurant and Pub.

Bringing the Village to Life - and Life to the Village

A vision brought to life with passion and hard work.  In December 2002 Jeff and Ann Sansom took a trip into the unknown territory of Thomas River.  There they found a disused and unloved village crying out for rebirth.  Before the visit was up Jeff and Ann knew that this was the place they were going to spend the rest of their lives, in months to come it also became apparent that this was also the ideal location to not only retire to but to build a new life with new challenges and new business opportunities, not only for themselves but for the surrounding community.

Since January 2003 the village has grown and evolved into what it is today.  Our main focus within the village is affordability and marketing to South Africans.  Jeff has always stated that the village must be accessible to everybody.