Welcome to Lake Pleasant Resort...
...A little bit of heaven, fell from out the sky one day, and nestled...
Why Choose Us
A peaceful well shaded resort situated halfway between Wilderness and Knysna on the shores of the Garden Routes only freshwater-lake Groenvlei. Groenvlei is a part of the Goukamma Nature Reserve and also part of the Knysna & Wilderness National Lakes Area & Garden Route National Park, the Goukamma Nature Reserve, on the Resorts eastern boundary, is over 2500 hectares or 50 square kms in extent.
Lake Pleasant has been managed and owned by the same family since 1962 and boasts the only camping resort along a Bass & Carp fishing Lake in the Southern Cape. The Resort offers a Squash & Tennis Court as well as a Sports Pub & Restaurant, Convenience Store, Games Room with Pool Table, Fooze Ball, Table Tennis & Finger Board, Outdoor Chess, Draughts & Volley Ball, Gym with free usage of weights benches and fitness machines, two Swimming Pools and safe swimming at the Resort’s shallow & protected Lake Beach at Groenvlei. Lake Pleasant also offers rowing Boats and Canoes for hire, first hour of boat hire is free, private mooring facilities should you bring your own craft, a large Games area and a mini-Laundromat with free usage of washing machines. The Sea with its 18 km stretch of golden-sanded Beach, the proclaimed Goukamma Marine Reserve & Platbank Beach, is just over the hill (3km), easily accessible by most vehicles.
History
Lake Pleasant Resort and the greater Sedgefield area, previously part of the sprawling farm Ruygte Valley or Ruigtevlei, can be traced back to ownership by a dutch soldier and first Conservator of the Knysna forests, JF Meeding (approx 1785). Ruigtevlei was divided into 9 lots in 1878 with Catherine Dorethea Meeding and husband Henry Hooper inheriting Lot C from her parents. Their son Johannes Jacobus Hooper, known as James, found the first gold nugget in the nearby Karatara River in 1876, which sparked the Millwood gold rush that reached its height in 1886. James two sons, Charteris & Humphrey inherited and later subdivided Lot C into smaller portions. Charteris reportedly swam the entire length of Groenvlei & back before breakfast daily & in 1910 became the first recorded person to swim from Robben Island to Blauwbergstrand.
Humphrey’s widow, Ethel (Eppie) Hooper, sold her 72 acre portion to Rory (Pat) Hennessy in October 1962. Current owners, the Lidstone family, Roger, Allannah & children Briony, Stuart & Anthea, arrived by ship from the U.K. in 1968 to assist Allannah’s father, Pat Hennessy and mother Catherina (Rene), in running the already well established Resort. Initially only part owners, Roger and Allannah (Lan) purchased the remainder in 1973 and operated the Resort uninterrupted till Roger’s passing in September 2011 & Lan’s in April 2023.
The Resort remains Sedgefield’s only privately owned self-catering & camping Resort and is managed by the 3rd generation of the Hennessy-Lidstone family, Stuart with, Lan’s Companion & Caregiver, Sally v Niekerk & loyal staff Sylvia, Abegail , Pheliswa, Sanna & Lindiwe & groundsmen Jeremey, Gareth & Kalie.