Historical Cottage in Gardens

Shiny, Happy Home

This breezy, revamped historical cottage in the central Gardens district makes a sunny, walkable base near the Cape Town’s creative Kloof Street. Blending Old World Europe with classic African influences, the tropical-feeling patio home is bright, plant-filled and cheery, thanks to a youthful makeover that favors sleek, shining surfaces, clean lines and pops of happy color.

A sunny, serene city sanctuary with a decidedly tropical touch, this vacation home for rent in Cape Town may be a historical cottage, but inside it’s solidly contemporary. It creatively mixes hip art, a high-ceilinged open floorplan, and linear furnishings with retro old world accents made cool. Enhancing original architecture is the owner’s specialty via Visual Arthouse, her design firm that creates “contemporary nostalgia.” The layering of flea-market finds and modern art amp up her otherwise classic properties, and the masterful mixing of textural rugs and varying furniture styles gives this particular home its open, alfresco feeling. The cottage offers a lushly flowering, full-service entertainment patio outfitted with a bistro table and dining table, shaded chaises and built-in bench seating, a water feature and outdoor shower, plus a cobblestone-meets-concrete outdoor food prep counter.

AROUND

Set in downtown's leafy, trendy Gardens neighborhood, this vacation home for rent in Cape Town stands in the shadow of Table Mountain, South Africa’s most-photographed landmark that’s also been characterized as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. The flat-topped outcropping can be hiked or summited via cable car. The Gardens neighborhood offers dozens of chic restaurants, cool cafes, coffee shops, artisan boutiques, and loft ateliers. Home of a young creative class, the southern suburb’s main draw is Kloof Street, where galleries and theaters create a buzz, joining more traditional pursuits such as the luxurious afternoon high tea at the landmark Mount Nelson Hotel. Houses in the area have a classic residential appeal, many of them showcasing colonial styling, others veritable mansions. Company Gardens, the oldest South African garden dating from 1652, is in the neighborhood, and Long Street joins Kloof as a destination avenue, lined with bistros and boutiques for browsing. The Atlantic beaches and the V&A Waterfront, one of Cape Town’s biggest attractions, are easily accessible from the home, too.

LOCATION

Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Nearest airport: Cape Town (20 minutes)

BEST TIME TO VISIT: Shoulder season, March to May and September to November