No more than a 90-minute drive from Cape Town, Westdunes secludes herself from the beach crowds of the Western Cape, nestling her contemporary bungalow bones into the dunes, and whisking you away to another world. Where the salty air wafts its way down from the mountains, through the open spaces of the home, out through the glass doors and windows, and back across the ocean.
Where the fynbos veld engulfs the landscape – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Meandering this terrain is so captivating, you’ll rarely walk the same nature routes twice. Exploring long stretches of sand, and the quaint little village that assists with the shutting off from the world that we know. As you and your travelling team succumb to the laidback, seaside lifestyle that Betty’s Bay brings.
Set across two consciously considered levels of living, entertaining, dining and reclining spaces, Westdunes encases you in its discerned philosophy of living in nature. Relying on the repurposed timber, the glass, the screed cement, and the steel as the vessel. Letting the landscape influence your moods and movements in accordance with the elements.
No wall or window unnecessarily planted, the views of the ocean, the mountains, the little village, and the 22 hectares of privately-owned fynbos veld command the narrative. The four bedrooms rest downstairs. Together with the three accompanying bathrooms and a games room. Little decks extend themselves beyond each suite, where you can have those mandatory moments of quiet reflection.
In keeping with the sentiment of this special place – harnessing the essence of the elements and a prevailing connection with nature – the living, cooking, gathering, dining, listening and witnessing spaces rest on the top floor. A perfectly-sized deck and little plunge pool, with loungers and daybeds for the sunny hours.
A braai area for the outdoor feasting and mountain gazing. All accessible by the stack-able, fold away glass doors that disappear on both sides when the winds are behaving. And should they decide to shift in temperament, so does your experience shift with them. As you embrace change in this wild Whale Route hideaway. Witnessing the fynbos whip in the wind and the rain fall against the glass. The wood burning stove acting as a heated partition between the living space and the music library.
Eva Cassidy is poetically lulling you into a romantic state of bliss, as the cook of the clan steams the mussels that you foraged from the rocks earlier in the day. Some are playing pool or table tennis downstairs, others are gathered around the table attempting their best hands at bridge. Reading will be a permanent pastime that’s interrupted by the occasional pod of dolphin that are competing with the kite surfers. Is it a seal? It is a surfer? No, it’s another whale.
Literature, music, art and food
Whatever’s on the cards for your getaway by the sea, it’ll be all about coming together with your chosen clan, and letting the landscape inspire your thoughts, your conversations and your activities. Swimming, walking, mountain biking, hiking, reading, pondering, and playing. The owners – haling from architectural and publishing backgrounds – have discerningly designed a home that will elicit the artist, the raconteur, the adventurist and the culinary kings and queens of the clan to be at their best. To master their holiday skills of doing as little as possible, whilst nature does it all for you.
Written by Colleen Ogilvie