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At Suidster near Montagu, Hendre Bloem’s sleek yet soulful take on the country cabin elevates this humble type of dwelling to its design-driven apotheosis.
hen Suidster’s owners Cobus Van Wyk and Ruan Van De Venter moved back to South Africa after a 16-year stint in the UK, they chose a farm between Montagu and Barrydale for its likeness to the western Scottish isles. “It reminds us of Scotland – the mountains and plants,” says Cobus. “And it has the same rugged beauty,” Ruan adds. Here they have built their own home, and recently added two remotely situated, solar-powered mountain escapes to which guests can come in search of fresh air and fynbos. When initially imagining the cabins, they knew they wanted something that referenced the cottages they had seen in the Scottish countryside. With this in mind, they asked interior designer Hendre Bloem to bring their vision to life. Apart from a rectangular, corrugated-iron-clad starting point and a loose framework, Hendre had relatively free rein. “We wanted to keep the footprint small, and to make the cabins simple and sustainable but also luxurious inside,”
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says Cobus. The rest was up to Hendre. What he’s come up with in response is both simple and incredibly smart: simple in that these are rectangular, barn-style structures with no interior walls; and smart because, despite being one sizeable space (of approximately 80m2), each cabin is also resolved and sophisticated. This is down to just how good Hendre is at organising space. By cleverly placing and positioning the furniture and fittings, he has achieved a sense of flow as well as pockets of privacy – via the use of details such as curtains around the freestanding bath that also screens the shower from view, a headboard that acts as a room divider, and klompie tiles in different tones that signal the different zones in the space. “I’m a fan of creating a continuous flow from one area to the next,” says Hendre – but he’s also very much aware that when everything is open, attention to detail is crucial. “Everything here is integrated and unobtrusive. So, when you’re lying in bed, you can’t see the bath – and when the
PHOTOS KARL ROGERS WORDS JULIA FREEMANTLE
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