Synopsis
Bakoven may well be one of Cape Town’s sexiest little beaches but it has never lost its soul. Back in the early 1900s city residents built ramshackle cottages here, which they would populate over summer weekends and holidays, with families and
fishing nets, dogs and beach gear in tow. Right up until the early 1980s, the small settlement of charming beach dwellings remained on the down-at-heel side of delightful.
‘The thing about Bakoven is that it’s still very real; it’s a beach that’s much used and lived on,’ says Cathy Smit, owner of a fresh, whitewashed house that couldn’t be any closer to the sand and water. ‘We all know each other – at sunset, everyone sits on their front walls or steps, sharing a bottle of wine and catching up.’ Over the years, Cathy, her husband, Mike, and their three children, along with a parade of family and friends, have enjoyed many a lazy weekend and Sunday-lunch gathering here. The couple bought the property in 1997 and after a series of elemental occurrences, from giant storms to a fire, they were in a position to start afresh. So they turned to Pieter Silberbauer of Rustic Homes, an Elgin-based company that specialises in wooden and brick-and-mortar mix homes – ideal for a place like Bakoven.
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