Situated between a picturesque estuary and the sea, this family holiday cottage combines a crisp update on cabin design with cosy interiors inspired by old-fashioned boathouse style.
Photographs Warren Heath
Text Robyn Alexander
Styling Sven Alberding
Eight years ago, Jo Sinfield and his wife Sarah spent a weekend at a lodge on the Overberg coast near Stanford, about two hours from Cape Town. As the couple are inveterate and professional travellers – Sarah is a bespoke tour operator and Jo a co-founder of Explorers Club, a collective of accommodation options and creators of off-the-map expeditions in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya – this was an ordinary part of their routine. But on this occasion, there was an unexpected bonus to the visit: it opened Jo’s eyes to the utterly unique property next door.
“I gazed at the ancient indigenous milkwood trees, the open water of the river and lagoon, and the Maanschynkop mountains rising beyond,” says Jo. “And I thought, why hadn’t I known about this place before?” The landscape is remarkably beautiful, with a long stretch of wild beach on one side, the lagoon in the centre, and the blue-grey mountains rising up across the water. It feels untamed and untouched, yet also like a natural safe haven. Unsurprisingly, Jo rapidly formed the idea of creating a select group of family holiday cabins here, and he enlisted the assistance of fellow conservationist and destination developer Bas Hochstenbach as planning commenced on what has now become Coot Club.
From the start, they were determined that the environment should shine – and so, a key priority has been and will remain taking care of the 464 hectares of land that makes up the property. Situated within the Walker Bay Fynbos Conservancy, and having never been commercially farmed, Coot Club was given an ornithological and botanical biodiversity assessment in 2021 by Birdlife South Africa, who not only recorded a remarkable 230 different species of birds here but also recommended that the peninsula be accorded the highest possible nature-protection status.
Jo turned to Cape Town-based architects Jed Kritzinger and Julia Abell of Kritzinger Architects as design professionals ideally placed to “retain that focus on biodiversity” and create buildings that are “second to the landscape rather than standing out,” says Jo. Jed, too, was immediately “struck by the pristine condition of the vegetation and the dramatic views of the mountain range that the boat houses would be facing,” he says and saw the “deep steely-grey colour tones and scale of the mountains” as key sources of visual inspiration.
The design Jed suggested was based on the concept of “an old corrugated-iron boathouse” that structurally hovers above the terrain rather than imposing itself on it – a building that, as Jo puts it, “floats in nature on stilts”. This idea was, understandably, well received by both town planning and heritage authorities as “a complementary addition to the landscape, with the dark grey exterior allowing the boathouses to discreetly settle into the landscape,” says Jed.
The nautical theme suggested by the architectural form of the cabins is further augmented by the use of timber decking and wood-panelled interiors, as well as design details such as porthole windows, all of which are “reminiscent of traditional boat-building techniques”, as Jed puts it. A boathouse aesthetic is also key to the interior design, for which Jo envisioned something “fun, fresh and different”, which would “bring the nautical feel inside via sailing memorabilia, in a way that complements the natural environment”. To realise this aim, he enlisted the expertise of Cape Town interior designer Dominic Touwen, who worked with fellow designer Camilla Fraser on the project.
Recalls Dominic, “The brief was to create weekend cottages that would take them back to their childhood – a retro and very relaxed experience of exploring the lagoon and ‘messing about in boats’. The interiors had to be hard-wearing yet comfortable and not pretentious.” Set against the painted timber-lined interiors of the cabins and amplified by the open and plentiful natural light, the resulting interior schemes nod to sailing nostalgia while also having a simple, contemporary feel.
Like everyone else who has contributed to the creation of Coot Club, Dominic clearly remembers the first time he viewed the property. “It was like déjà vu,” he says. “I realised that I had sailed across the lagoon from the yacht club when I was a child and explored the then-derelict old stone house here. So it’s a very sentimental project for me. It’s one of the most exceptional sites in the Cape, and it’s been a real privilege to work here.”
In short, this holiday haven is a genuinely unique location in which a delightfully nostalgia-infused aesthetic combines with a viable vision for the preservation of the pristine environment far into the future. From waking to a symphony of birdsong to exploring the lagoon in a kayak, relishing a long beach walk and spending a sun-drenched afternoon playing boules, this place is all about complete, recuperative relaxation and finding ways to reconnect with the natural world.