Scenic Escape

Scenic Escape is a detached house on Links Drive whose real subject is its garden. Bougainvillea flowers over the front, white daisy beds run beneath it, and pergola patios are spread about the plot in enough places to follow the shade round the day.

From the street it is a low wall, a lawn and shrubs, with a garden path to the front door under that bougainvillea. There is somewhere to park and a door of your own. Stepping stones cross dense planting at the side to a wide lawn behind.

Fireplace, bookcase, blue armchairs

The living room has a white fireplace with a bookcase beside it and two blue armchairs drawn up. A second sitting room takes a leather sofa and a mirror, doors open to the garden. The dining table stands under a blinded window beside a tiled kitchen with a built-in coffee machine, a dishwasher and an extractor hood. There is a home office with folding doors to the garden, and a utility room with a washing machine and tumble dryer.

Metal frames and floral blinds

The bedrooms are plain and comfortable: black metal-frame beds on wooden floors, a carpeted room with a lamp, one with a built-in bookshelf and a wicker table, another with floral roman blinds. Floor-to-ceiling wardrobes fill a wall in one, and sliding glass doors lead from another straight onto a patio. There is a bathroom with a bath and a frosted window, and smaller ones with glass showers.

Following the shade

Pergola patios sit against the house wall and out among the planting, some with benches, one with white lounge furniture opening off a bedroom. There is a mosaic-topped garden table under trees, a covered dining area with a wood ceiling, and a braai.

Links Drive and the island

This is the inland side of Leisure Isle, all hedges and gardens, with water a walk away in most directions. Steenbok Nature Reserve lies along the northern shore, free and never closed. If breakfast made for you sounds better, there are guest houses on Leisure Isle.

A house for

A family, or people who garden themselves and will notice what has been done here.