De Kelders Beach House

Located a stone's throw from the ocean, with only a historic pathway between you and the water, our Beach House is the ideal spot from which to watch whales frolicking in Walker Bay.

Our beautiful second home has four double bedrooms and built-in benches in the living room which are ideal sleeping spaces for another four kids or adults, all opening onto seafront patio's. There's a baby camping cot too. The linen is pure white cotton and the duvets down. There are three full bathrooms, a guest loo and a large open-plan kitchen, dining, living area - with the most spectacular unobstructed views of Walker Bay.

The only thing between us and the sea is a picturesque coastal footpath, which was recently awarded heritage status. Stanfords Cove, with its' protected beach and grassed picnic area, is a 5 minute walk along this path. It's great for kids. We have a double garage and additional off-street parking for 2 or 3 cars.

De Kelders is 30km beyond the world-renowned land-based whale watching town of Hermanus. It's best known for Great White Shark cage diving, but is in fact an even better spot than Hermanus to see the Southern Right Whales which come to calve and mate in Walker Bay between August and November. A few whales remain virtually year-round. With perfect conditions, being a still ocean and an on-shore breeze, I've actually smelled the whale plumes.

The house is an hour and half drive from Cape Town, over Sir Lowries pass, and is an ideal detour for travellers heading up the East coast from Cape Town along the famous Garden Route as it's only a half-hours' detour off the N2. The house itself is informally elegant, with up-market finishes. It has all the amenities such as a dishwasher, washing machine, and a 42-inch flat screen with a collection of DVD's. We do not have DSTV, but do have WiFi - we've caved to pressure - with Netflix / Showmax etc subscriptions.

The town of Gansbaai is 3km's away and has supermarkets, medical facilities, petrol stations etc. The tourist office will happily arrange kayak tours, whale watching trips and shark cage diving expeditions. This is a special place, where the sound of the ocean massages you to sleep. In the 13 years since we built our beach house, we've shared it with countless friends whose comments in our guest book attest to their relaxed and happy visits.

It's the seat of our soul, where we come to sunbathe and barbecue in the summer months (September to April), and to cozy up in front of the wood-burning fireplace with a glass of local Raka red during our short winters.