It’s hard to imagine that a house with such an elegant flow and balance, was once rundown and made so awkward from haphazard additions and ‘renovations’ over the decades that only a glimmer of De Hoek’s original sturdy framework still existed. And yet there was something in its proportion and potential that piqued the interest of the owners five years ago. In its favour was its position on tract of farmland in Barrydale in that skirted the edge of the Overberg and the beginning of the Karoo. That meant a sweeping sky and folded hillsides but with air so clear it was a tonic. And then there was the golden light found nowhere else but in the Karoo. ‘It changes like the sea here,’ says the owner. It’s worth sitting quietly simply to watch the change come over purple-veined hills at dusk, a washed out blue sky in mid-summer fading to a dramatic sunset.
