Leisure Isle 2 bedroom home with essential power.

The house at 4 Tidswell Avenue is built in two wings joined by a glass corridor and a wooden deck, and it runs on backup power, which on this coast is a feature rather than a footnote.

A wooden boardwalk crosses the garden through ferns to a glass-fronted entrance. A wood-slat garage stands beside a brick-paved driveway under the gabled roof, lawn alongside and a braai out on the deck. Everything is on the ground floor.

Glass gable and a chandelier

The great room is the centrepiece: a glass gable roof overhead with a chandelier hanging in it, a wood-burning fireplace on one side and a glass entrance framing the courtyard on the other. The living and dining area runs open plan beneath a vaulted ceiling with eclectic furniture in it. The kitchen is white and fitted, a gloss island with dining chairs drawn up, a hide rug underfoot, a dishwasher, an oven and a washing machine.

Low beds, dark headboards

The bedrooms are calm and modern: a low bed under colourful abstract artwork, a dark upholstered headboard above navy bedding and wall art, one with glass sliding doors onto an outdoor patio, a built-in wardrobe with a tufted ottoman beside it. Electric blankets are provided. The bathrooms do a lot of work here, a glass shower against a wood-tile wall with a double vanity, a floating vanity in another, and a freestanding oval bathtub with a floor-mounted tap.

The sunken fire pit

A wooden deck out in the garden holds a sunken fire pit with rocking chairs round it, and another deck runs between the two wings. There is a braai, an outdoor fireplace, outdoor dining furniture, a patio and a terrace, with ferns planted the length of the boardwalk.

Tidswell Avenue and the water

Leisure Isle sits in the Knysna estuary, residential and level, reached across the Armstrong Road causeway. The lagoon shore is a walk away in most directions and Steenbok Nature Reserve holds the northern edge, free at any hour. There are guest houses that cook for you if you would rather not cook.

Right house for

A family who want architecture, a fire pit and the lights staying on, all on one level.