In the 1840s Thomas Fannin bought 6000 acres unseen in what is now known as the KwaZulu Natal Midlands, and upon his arrival he saw an incredible similarity to the Dargle Valley in his native Ireland. So he named the stream running through his new farm the Dargle and so the South African Dargle valley was born. His son, Meredith, bought the adjacent acres and named his farm Kilgobbin, after a church and castle back in their Irish Dargle valley. In 1875 the homestead of Kilgobbin was completed and he and his wife Mary moved in, and generations of Fannins grew up on this beautiful farm. In the mid 1900s, David and Claire Fannin sold Kilgobbin homestead and its surrounding land. The farm was then called Bridgewood until the early 1980s when Eric and Zia Harrison decided to resurrect the old stone and wood house back to its former glory, along with its old name, and so Old Kilgobbin was once again brought back to life. In 1996 John and Carl Bronner and their sons, Joel and Jethro, made Old Kilgobbin their home and took it into the 21st Century of agri-tourism and ecological farming.