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If it weren’t for the welcoming smiles on Carla and Maarten’s faces and for the giant ridgebacks bounding across the lawn, I’d have been concerned that I’d stumbled off Swellendam’s main street into a photo shoot for a design magazine. This house overflows with originality and is the quintessence of modern living (I-pod stations, wireless Internet a given).…
… The seven enormous garden rooms are identical in size and furnishings, with super-soft beds looking through French windows either to a scented lavender patch or to the pool, with its one striking blue wall perfectly framing the mountains beyond. Each room is coded by season or element, with one dashingly-coloured wall, matching cushions and a spray-painted canvas. 'Spring' is a vibrant green, 'Summer' a sun-burnt orange, the honeymooners' 'Fire' a passionate red and the brand-new, very special Red Cloud Room has gadgets galore such as diffuse floor lighting when you step out of bed. In the lounge building an LED light projects the time onto the opposite wall, and shattered glass is encased in the bar. The stoep, equipped with bespoke furniture hand-made to the couple’s own designs, provides a perfect viewing platform from which to watch the sun slipping down behind the mountains – or you could book a massage in the wellness room, or skip across to the jacuzzi, which overlooks a bird-filled dam in one corner of the garden. Maarten and Carla are the most charming of hosts and the whole experience is enchanting, not least the breakfast, which is as fresh, beautifully presented and utterly delicious as the place itself.
