Holiday home

Ah… Yzerfontein.
The jewel in the crown of SA’s West Coast. Although, Paternoster also has a reasonable argument for that title and plenty of hipsters will be shouting about Churchaven as well, so perhaps we’ll settle for “one of the jewels in the crown of SA’s West Coast” to prevent any fighting amongst the two of you reading this.
But Yzerfontein has a particular place in my heart, since Mrs 6000 stars on the town’s official homepage after photos of her were spotted following an infinity pool testing visit there a few years ago.

Anyway, if you were to be thinking about purchasing a hazy escape in the particular jewel that is Yzerfontein, then you could do a whole lot worse than this place.

Ignoring the error in the title – this is about an hour north of Cape Town – I rather like this place. Even if I hadn’t just invested in another seaside location, I still wouldn’t be able to even dream of affording it, but then again, just because I can’t afford Minki van der Westhuizen doesn’t mean that she’s not nice to look at.

The blurb tells us:

Leaning against the dunes covered in fynbos (“fine bush” in Afrikaans), the L shaped plan is spread over three levels; the home has been designed to intensely enjoy the view and the sea air. There are two bedrooms with a bathroom on the top floor, communicating with a cobbled terrace, living room and kitchen at the intermediate level, linked to the garden and infinity edge swimming pool, and a third room plus a photography studio.

Terrible.

The design is by Richard Townsend and Stefan Antoni, who has done some amazing buildings in the more affluent areas of Cape Town. All of which brings me to the one issue I have with this place: it sticks out like a sore thumb. There’s a time and a place for this modern design and while this may be the time, Yzerfontein certainly isn’t the place as far as I’m concerned.
Never mind. To their credit, they have at least sited this home some distance back from the beach and behind the protection of the dunes, no doubt mindful of the icebergs which are a feature of this part of the coastline (as anyone who has ever set foot in the sea there will surely testify).

There’s not a lot to do in Yzerfontein besides watching the world go by, enjoying the gentle pace of life and seeing those amazing sunsets, but then, if you owned this place, why would you ever want to leave the house anyway?

Pictures: Adriano Brusaferri