Four hundred hectares of fynbos above the Klein River. One thatched house on it. Yours alone - shared with nobody else.
COPPULL
The gate is the last thing you have to do.
Coppull sits between Stanford and the sea, on the Stanford side of the Klein River mountains. The farm was fenced and put back to fynbos in 1994. No stock, no through road, no neighbours you can see. The code opens the gate and after that the only traffic is buck crossing the track at dusk.
We left one house here and nothing else. It means the reserve stays quiet and it means that when you book, you have the place — the lawn, the dams, the walks, the thatch all to yourself — without having to arrange anything with anyone.
Gate to front door: 2.6 km
Walk it in an hour if you stroll. There are three marked routes off this line — the ridge, the dam circuit, the river fence — and a printed card in the kitchen drawer with all of them on it.
Cattle grid, aloes in flower by June. Code by WhatsApp the morning you arrive.
First sight of the mountains and, on a clear day, the lagoon mouth at Hermanus.
Reeds, malachite kingfisher, resident herons. Enjoy swims during the warmer months.
Two white chairs under it. Planted long before the house was thatched.
Open, usually. Lights on, fire laid, milk in the fridge if you asked for it.
Five bedrooms, three baths, one very long table.
What else lives here
Kept by hand since 1994 in a hardcover book on the kitchen shelf. Guests add to it. Corrections welcome; the crowned eagle is still disputed.
Malachite kingfisher
Cape sugarbird
Orange-breasted sunbird
Jackal buzzard
Spurwing goose
Denham's bustard
Grassbird
Steenbok
Common duiker
Caracal (tracks, 2023)
Cape clawless otter
Angulate tortoise
Porcupine
Water mongoose
Erica coccinea · Aug
Protea repens · Sep
Watsonia · Oct
Chasmanthe · Jul
Restio, many · all year
Pelargonium · Nov
Gladiolus · Sep
Taken on the terrace at ten at night with a phone, so treat it as a rough figure. For comparison: a library sits near forty.
The loudest thing most nights are the frogs in the bottom dam. In August it is the whispering wind on the thatch.
When to come, honestly
February is hot and still. August is wild and the fire is worth it. If you want the place to yourself and the fynbos at its best, come in late September.
Ask for the dates you want.
Elsabé takes the enquiries. Tell her the nights, how many of you, and whether there are children or a dog. She will confirm or tell you straight away whether it's available or not.