Did You Know – Sebenza History 

A retired couple from Hillcrest involved in nursery work for many years, were renting a small cottage on the property in Ramsgate, they suggested together with Eric that they start a little retail nursery growing seedlings, using cuttings and in doing so erected a shade house. Today it has been established into a large garden centre, surrounded by 12 timber shops that Eric had erected to form a complete shopping village, named Sebenza Village. The name Sebenza derives from one of the previous owners of the land, Tommy Turnbull, who named the property in 1945. He also owned the Regent Hotel in Margate at the time, and used the property to grow his vegetables, as well as a piggery for his hotel. After a couple of months a farmer offered us 40.000 palm trees from his farm that he wanted to sell. We took 2000 at a time on consignment, as money was tight in those days. Our advertisement in the local paper read: 6 varieties of palm trees, 1m tall 99c each, only 4 per customer. People came from far and wide, and within 3 months all palm trees were sold. This put Sebenza on the map.