Set in a secluded location on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard, this family home’s discreet architectural charms connect its occupants with a unique beach front setting.

“You’re there, but you’re not visible,” says Nele Vermaak, smiling, as she describes the uniquely secluded position of her recently renovated family home. And what a location it is: Cape Town’s Glen Beach remains one of the city’s best kept secrets. While the beachside locales close by – including Camps Bay, Clifton and Bantry Bay – are names known around the world, petite and discreet Glen Beach flies very much under the radar.

That’s also just the way its residents, including Nele, her husband Kevin and their children, Juno and Bo, prefer it. Sporting just 15 bungalows in total, this very special spot is perfectly placed on the Atlantic Seaboard, and is within 10 minutes’ drive of Juno and Bo’s school and from the Cape Town CBD – yet when you’re in situ, it feels like an isolated beachfront that’s far more remote and further afield.

Nele herself has a lengthy history with this rather magical place. Originally from Germany, she first rented a bungalow here back in 2006, and went on to purchase this property with Kevin in 2012. She notes that many homeowners at Glen Beach have been living here since at least the late 1990s, saying, “We’re very much the new generation.” Currently the chairperson of the local bungalow owners’ association, Nele is one of the current guardians of both the natural and historical heritage of Glen Beach. “Our home,” she explains, “was the first built structure here, dating back to a small farm that existed on this site at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.” Back in the day, the house next door functioned as the farmhouse kitchen.

So, when the time came to upgrade the Vermaaks’ single-storey beachside bungalow in 2018, Nele knew that it would take some considerable time to plan and get approvals for the process. Strict heritage guidelines are laid down for renovations here, so the Vermaaks called on Cape Town architect Wynand Wilsenach – whose practice has extensive experience with similar properties – to assist them with a site- and heritage-sensitive reworking of the house.

The overall brief, says Nele, wasn’t hugely complex: the Vermaaks needed to add some space to their then-compact abode via an extra floor, and aesthetically speaking, they wanted “a beach cottage that was also a home,” she adds. Wynand says, “the Vermaaks brief was to change the cottage to a double-storey bungalow, maximising the beach views” as well as ensuring that there was “a positive ground-level connection to the sea on the western side, and through to the secluded garden on the opposite side of the property.”

As expected, it took considerable planning efforts – over the course of two years – to ensure that everyone was happy with the design, from the Vermaaks themselves to their neighbours, and the various authorities whose approval had to be obtained. The family moved out for the actual building process, which was completed over a further period of just under two years (including some delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

Construction in this sort of location is always tricky. Fortunately, master builder Jeremy Berrisford and his team were appointed to complete the job, and Nele herself acted as the overall project manager, bringing her extensive insider knowledge of the site to bear on the renovation on multiple levels. “I know just where the sun is – and the wind,” she says. Nele also makes special mention of the experts who assisted on site with the carpentry-focused construction of the bungalow, which has been made almost entirely using wood – including the roof – anchored by concrete slab floors and a few structurally necessary concrete walls.

From the fully private landscaped garden and outdoor dining area at the rear of the house, complete with large mature trees – a rare luxury on this coastline – through to the wooden sun deck and plunge pool at the front, which leads off the indoor living space, the bungalow now opens up to its surroundings on every side. The views from the rear of the house and back garden of the 12 Apostles mountain range are every bit as beautiful as the easy connection between the home and the sea at the front – and the transparency of the ground-floor design means that glimpses of each of these vistas are always on offer throughout the interior.

Speaking of the interiors, Nele stresses the necessity for careful design planning when every metre – and perhaps every centimetre – of space has to count. Explaining that her father was a sailor, Nele is full of appreciation for her home’s “boat-like cleverness” in that everything here has its place. She also credits the skills of multiple specialists in their trades with regard to getting every element of the house to function optimally. These ranged from the expertise of master carpenter and joiner Andy de Klerk – who “took the kitchen to the next level”, Nele says – to the skills of stonemason Anton de Sousa Costa, whose initial work on the terrace walls in the garden developed into more extensive guidance in terms of the overall landscaping. “Anton helped so much in terms of making the garden into the oasis it is now,” says Nele.

On the first floor, slightly unusually in a beachfront home, what some would see as the very best position in terms of the sea views is occupied by the study. Both Kevin and Nele work from home, and enjoy being able to do so in a genuinely inspiring location. Their nearby bedroom sports a vista of the lush greenery of the garden and trees, plus that glorious mountain backdrop – an outlook that, Nele says, she finds just as beautiful.

When it came to interior finishes and decor decisions, Nele knew that she wanted the house to feel welcoming and homely, as well as simple and well ordered. The use of lots of natural wood in this context further enhances the connection with the bungalow’s exterior construction and natural setting. And following some much-appreciated assistance from interior designer Kate Moffatt, especially with regard to “styling, positioning and composition,” says Nele, the house has just the right easy-going, beachy feel – “but with some bold touches,” she adds, such as luxuriously large couches, textured rugs, and pops of colour in the children’s rooms.

Cogently described as an “oasis” by a close friend who is an aficionado of beautiful houses by profession, the Vermaaks’ home blends site-sensitive architecture with laid-back, beachside appeal. It’s an abode that reflects its owners’ desire for an ongoing connection with nature, yet also displays a subtlety and sophistication of design that makes it a fitting adornment to its spectacularly lovely setting.

w2.co.za, berrisfordconstruction.com, cabinetworks.co.za, antondesousacosta.com, hintdecor.co.za

Photographs Greg Cox/ Bureaux

Text Robyn Alexander/ Bureaux

Styling Sven Alberding/ Bureaux

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