Who designed Kokos Huis?

Prisca Llagostera designed the interiors herself, and the restoration used local craftspeople. The building is a long, low, lime-washed Cape farmstead of about 200 years, thick-walled, at the foot of the Kasteelberg. She kept the original wooden doors, beams and strap-hinged shutters, and set terracotta floors and buff, brush-marked plaster around them. Her references are specific: Chile for rawness, Mexico for pattern, Brazil for colour and palms, the Mediterranean for natural materials, England for warmth.

The materials are raffia, reed, grass, jute and Malawi cane, with rust and tobacco cushions against lime-white walls. In the lounge, a built-in plaster banquette faces an open black steel fireplace. The cocktail room has a bamboo console, cut-glass decanters and carved palms. Outside, a reed-roofed cabana stands on terracotta piers beside the heated, palm-lined pool. The ceramics are by Ceramic Matters, whose studio is on Kalmoesfontein in the Paardeberg, on the same farm as the Badenhorst cellar.

What are the rooms like at Kokos Huis?

There are six bedrooms in the Manor House, each named for what it is. On the ground floor, opening onto the stoep and pool, the old farm room has a wood-burning fireplace and antique cupboards, the corner room keeps ceiling fans instead of air conditioning, and the little room has wooden shutters and a queen bed. Upstairs, under the old roof, the room with lots of light has a sloping attic window, the cosy room looks at the Kasteelberg, and the family room has a small sitting area and a bath.

The beds are built locally, the linen and Mungo towels are woven in South Africa, and the bathrooms have brushed, unlacquered brass fittings and The Scent toiletries. The three studios stand a few metres away in the farmyard: whitewashed walls, polished concrete floors, black steel windows and split-reed ceilings over dark beams, each with a kitchenette and a terrace. Each comes with a basket of Monarch coffee, farm eggs, cultured butter, sourdough and Swartland wine, and one opens onto a courtyard with a built-in braai.

Breakfast is à la carte, from fresh orange juice to sourdough with avocado and poached eggs. A short all-day menu of small plates and soups is served by the pool or the fire.

What is the garden like at Kokos Huis?

The garden is the heart of the house. Palms and thorn trees shade the lawn, weaver birds nest above the stoep, and the heated pool sits at the centre, with the reed-roofed cabana on its far side: terracotta walls, built-in seating, striped cushions and turned wooden stools under a raffia pendant. We spent long afternoons there doing very little, listening to the birds and the pool, a book on the cushions and a glass of Swartland wine within reach. When the evening cools, there is the firepit outside and the cocktail room inside, and dinner is a short walk away in the village: The Barn is seven minutes on foot.