The competition to find a name for our beautiful new wood and glass house in the forest was an outstanding success. We had more than 400 name suggestions so finding a winner became a challenging task. We roped in friends, family and CTH houses past guests and asked them to pick their favourites out of a short list of 16. And the ultimate winner was...
We have very exciting news!Our new wood and glass "tree" house is emerging from the midst of the forest at Ballots Bay and will soon be available for holiday rentals.And we're running a competition to find a name for this wonderful house! This extremely steep site in the middle of lush indigenous forest and over looking bay, gorge and sea, has been...
I built my house at Ballots Nature Reserve 20 years ago and no one had ever heard of this gem on the cliffs near Victoria Bay. Occasionally people would say – "ahhh – those timber houses you sometimes fly over when coming in to George airport – they look amazing….". Two decades on and most locals still don't know about us. Our best secret is "THE R...
Yesterday an elephant seal beached itself at Victoria Bay and was harassed and sprayed with water. By this morning, she (or he) had made her way to Ballots Bay where she was found early this morning lying quietly on the beach by Clare Theron. We called a marine biologist friend who alerted Cape Nature and within minutes Keith Spencer called with in...
In April this year we were supposed to fly from South Africa to the island of Lesvos to spend time putting the finishing touches on Philoxenia Retreat, our beautiful stone farmhouse in Plomari, preparing it for our first holiday rentals since buying and renovating. Devastatingly for the whole world, Covid19 hit and we were forced to cancel our trip...
This very strange year that has knocked the whole world for six has been almost surreal for us. While the rest of South Africa battles with a broken economy, joblessness, hunger and intense frustration, we are reveling in the most beautiful winter at Ballots. We have been able to walk freely through the nature reserve, smell the sea, listen to the ...
We have heard the words "Siga-siga" many times since we started our adventures 8 years ago. When referring to us, its usually in the beginning of the season when we are still on high tension and rushing to the get the boat ready so we can go, go, go! "Siga-Siga" means "Slowly, slowly", usually accompanied with a slow waggle of the right hand up and...