Mount Melsetter has been a working farm since 1877, worked originally by the Schoombees, then by the Lovemores, and then by the Southeys. The farm now belongs to David Southey, and is farmed by Candy, David’s sister, and her husband, Mike Ferrar.

It is named after Melsetter, a listed house on Hoy, in the Orkneys of Scotland, and was so named by Margerie Moodie, who in 1856 married one Charles Lovemore of Port Elizabeth. Charles and Margerie purchased the farm from one Gilliam Andries Schoombee. Margerie’s father was Captain Benjamin Moodie, last Laird of Melsetter, who immigrated to South Africa in 1817.