LANGHUIS , GRAAFF-REINET
OPPOSITE
The upper deck of Leobo,
from which you can lie and look out over 8 000 hectares of bush.
80
In a corner of Graaff-Reinet, where the sluggish Sundays River does a protective loop around the town, the stoep of a long 19th-century house looks out onto the back of a steep mountain, rising about 1 000 feet above sea level that they call the Spandau Kop. Standing guard over Graaff-Reinet like a sentry at a fortress near Berlin (as a Prussian observer is thought to have remarked), it’s the eye-catcher at the bottom of the garden. And while Langhuis’ entrance is in Donkin Street, one of the best-preserved thoroughfares in Graaff-Reinet, it’s the gardens at the back that give the properties on this long, wide street its character. The Langhuis is in fact three houses combined as one. The old main entrance of the central one leads to two high, cool rooms that, like all of Graaff-Reinet, are shuttered during the day to keep out the intense heat and only opened as dusk falls to let in a breath of fresh air. To [the] left and right as you enter are two small old-fashioned rooms, one of them an en-suite bedroom with twin brass beds found in the attic of a country house in the Netherlands. A short passage leads from the front to the back of the house and into a showstopper of a living room. If you know Graaff-Reinet, and know that it’s filled mostly with old-style houses made up of small, boxy rooms, then Langhuis comes as something of a surprise. Running virtually the length of the building this vast living area, at one end of which the kitchen faces across a 10-seater dining table to the sitting area at the other, dominated by a fireplace capable of housing a couple of two-metre-long logs, is completely open plan. Large glass doors lead to a stoep that in turn faces the garden, the pool and Spandau Kop. It’s the kind of place you’d want to pad about shoeless, although in some style. After all, staying in the Langhuis is all about immersing yourself in a style of living honed by its owner Charlotte Daneel who, after years of living in Mexico, Amsterdam, the south of France and, latterly, Franschhoek (where she owned the much feted décor emporium La Grange), has perfected what you might call a laid-back European art of living. Who has a 10-seater table inside as well as on the stoep? Well, the Langhuis does. This is unimaginable luxury here in the heart of a little dusty, but beautiful Karoo town where life slows to a crawl when temperatures reach 40 degrees which they do in the summer. In fact in summer life is led on this stoep. It’s five metres wide and is also home to a sitting area filled with upholstered rattan sofas and armchairs. Beyond the living areas, two large en suite bedrooms also open onto the stoep in an arrangement that’s instantly and stylishly informal. There are no corridors, and there’s no hierarchy of living arrangements either. You simply come out of your room, cross the stoep and head for the pool across the garden. And once you’re out there, there’s a gazebo whose latte roof provides essential protection from the sun.
81
82
83
OPPOSITE
The upper deck of Leobo,
from which you can lie and look out over 8 000 hectares of bush.
OPPOSITE
The upper deck of Leobo,
from which you can lie and look out over 8 000 hectares of bush.
OPPOSITE
The upper deck of Leobo,
from which you can lie and look out over 8 000 hectares of bush.
84
85
86
87
OVERLEAF LEFT
Nautical bunks with a
ladder to scramble up.
OVERLEAF RIGHT
Recycled woods used for
the cladding and interiors of this bach-style home include black wattle and Oregon pine.
88
89