The Knysna Belle Guest House

The Knysna Belle stands on a point at the Bayswater Drive end of the island with water on either side of it, a multi-storey house on tiered levels that light up at dusk.

It sits across a lawn of flowering lavender with the pool alongside. Bicycles are parked out on the grass for guests, kayaks and a canoe laid beside them, mountain bikes on the brick patio. There is parking. An illustrated map of the island hangs inside for anyone working out where to go.

Sailboat prints up the stairs

An interior staircase climbs past framed sailboat prints. The guest lounge is spacious, a fireplace at one end and doors opening towards the water, wicker armchairs facing French doors onto the garden. Breakfast is the set piece: a covered terrace laid with several tables under a pergola and an outdoor servery, turning out croissants, scones with jam, cheese, bread and juice. There is a bar, and a kettle in the rooms.

Seashells and a clawfoot tub

Rooms run coastal without overdoing it: a wooden bed under a seashell-patterned bedspread, a green accent wall with doors onto a small deck, a vaulted ceiling and fan, a loveseat at the foot of the bed. Several open through French doors to the garden. The bathrooms are the treat, one with a vintage green clawfoot tub beneath shuttered windows, others with double vanities, glass-enclosed showers, a bath with a separate walk-in. Bathrobes are provided.

Pool, lavender, loungers

The pool has striped loungers round it and a large umbrella, with a bistro table and somewhere to set wine glasses beside the water. A covered terrace holds more loungers and a small dining table, green hills past the railing. After sunset the whole place glows under a lamppost.

The point, and both beaches

From here the lagoon mouth opens between green hills with yellow fynbos in the foreground, and sandy beaches curve away on either side with houses on the hillsides beyond. A wooden bench sits on the shore facing it. There are houses you run yourself if catering for yourself suits better.

Who comes

Couples and families who want breakfast, a pool and a bicycle, with the water on both sides of them.