Herons House

Herons House is a modern place on Steenbok Crescent under an angular white gable roof, and it is the most equipped house on this island by a distance: a pool, a hot tub, a pool table, table tennis, a gym and a wood-fired oven.

A paved driveway runs to a garage at the side. The entrance hall has a staircase, wood flooring and colourful artwork, with a desk tucked beneath the stairs. There is parking, and dogs are welcome.

Wood burner and the egg chair

The open-plan living room takes a sectional sofa, a hanging egg chair and a wood burner with firewood stacked beside it. Other sitting rooms carry teal armchairs, dark leather sofas round a fireplace, striped bench seating and built-in blue cabinetry. The kitchen is modern, a marble-look breakfast bar under pendant lighting. A games room holds a blue-felt pool table, another has table tennis, and a small gym keeps a weight bench and dumbbells.

Grey headboards, garden doors

The bedrooms are calm against all of that: grey headboards with sliding doors to the garden, a dark accent wall above a chevron rug, fitted wardrobes with en-suites behind them, simple rooms under framed prints. There are five bathrooms, one with a double vanity, another with a corner bathtub and black towels.

Rooftop braai, hot tub, hammock

A rooftop terrace carries a built-in braai, an outdoor dining area and round chairs, with the lagoon and the coastline opening out past the railing. At ground level a plunge pool sits on a tiled patio with loungers and a palm, a wood-clad hot tub stands in the garden beside a hammock, and a trampoline waits on the lawn by a covered walkway.

Steenbok Crescent and the sand

The road is named for the reserve that runs the island’s northern shore, free to walk into and open at any hour. A wide sandy beach lies within reach, hazy hills across the water and shallows a dog will walk straight into. Our Leisure Isle guide covers the rest.

Takes a crowd

A large group, or two families with children and a dog, who intend to use every one of those things.