The Villa
A 1923 house in Fresnaye, booked exclusively: nine bedrooms, the pool and every terrace, with no other guests in the house.
Where the house stands.
Fresnaye is one of the most sought-after pockets of the Atlantic Seaboard: a steep, leafy shelf of the mountain between Sea Point and Bantry Bay, where houses seldom change hands and almost nothing is built new. Walk down the hill and the promenade is about ten minutes away; look up and Lion’s Head stands over the garden wall.
The Walden Suites has stood here since 1923. Taken exclusively, the whole of it is yours: the courtyard, the seventeen-metre pool, the loggia of arches, both lounges and all nine bedrooms.
All nine, under one booking.
Beds are made up king or twin to your list; send it a week ahead and the house will be arranged before you arrive. Cots and fold-out beds take the house to twenty guests.
Getting around the house
The house is built up the slope over three floors. A platform lift reaches all three, alongside two flights of stairs from the reception and kitchen level. Getting in from the street is one step up at the gate and three easy ones to the front door.
Reception, the kitchen, the lounge and the breakfast area are all on the ground floor, along with two of the nine bedrooms. The pool terrace is on that level too, so breakfast and a swim are both reached without a step. Six bedrooms are on the first floor and one on the second.
Bellwood Road climbs at roughly ten to twelve per cent — moderately steep, and comfortable enough on foot or by car.
Between floors
A platform lift reaching all three floors, and two flights of stairs from the reception and kitchen level.
Getting in
One step up from the street at the gate, then three easy steps to the front door.
On the ground floor
Reception, the kitchen, the lounge, the breakfast area, and two of the nine bedrooms.
The other bedrooms
Six on the first floor, one on the second.
Pool & breakfast
Both level with the ground floor, and reached from reception without a step.
Parking
On-site behind the gate, subject to availability, with street parking on Bellwood Road besides.
The approach
Bellwood Road climbs at about ten to twelve per cent: moderately steep, and manageable on foot or by car.
If anyone travelling with you would find stairs difficult, tell us before you book and we will say honestly whether the house will suit.
What comes with the house
Breakfast (optional add on)
Served eight to ten in the courtyard for everyone staying — continental buffet, eggs to order, bread and pastries baked that morning.
A house manager on site
Someone who lives in this city and answers in person: restaurants, wine estates, a boat, a babysitter, the mountain in the right weather.
Daily housekeeping
All nine bedrooms made up each day, with fresh linen, bath and pool towels throughout the stay.
Airport transfers
Arranged for everyone with you, arrival and departure, however staggered the flights turn out to be.
Pool, terraces and lounges
The seventeen-metre pool, the loggia, the upper terrace at sunset and both lounges — yours alone, with no one to share them with.
The kitchen, if you want it
Bring a private chef, or we will introduce one. Dinner for your group sits down in the dinning area.
Six reasons to take all nine
Friends travelling together
Nine bedrooms, so nobody draws the sofa bed. Breakfast is the only fixed point in the day.
Three generations at once
Grandparents on the garden level, children upstairs, and a pool you can watch from the loggia.
A company off-site
The dining room seats a working session of eighteen; the terrace takes the half of the day that matters more.
A wedding, small and private
Ceremony on the upper terrace, dinner under the arches, and your guests stay the night in the house.
Film & photography
A 1923 villa with arches, sea light and a closed gate. Crew and cast under one roof, no unit base needed.
A whole season, quietly
Long stays through the Cape summer, with rates that soften the longer you keep the house.
Book well in advance.
Only one booking can hold the house at a time. Whole-house dates are few, and they go early: six months ahead is usual for December and January, and a season ahead for a wedding. If your dates are settled, write before someone else takes them.
What the house costs, what holds your nights, and how the week is arranged around you are all worked out with you directly. Every stay here is put together differently: a family over Christmas and a wedding party in March want different things of the same house, and a quoted figure on a page tells you very little about either.
Write with the nights you have in mind and the number in your party. You will have an answer from the family, with everything set out plainly, usually the same day.
Tell us when, and how many.
The house is not listed with agents or booking sites. Melanie or a member of the family answers every whole-house enquiry personally, in a day and often within the hour.
12 Bellwood Road · Fresnaye · Cape Town
Your enquiry has reached us. Melanie or a member of the family will reply personally, usually within a day. You can also write to us directly at contact@walden.co.za.
Prefer a single room?
The same house is let room by room the rest of the year, always directly with us. Breakfast, the pool and the terraces come with any of the nine.
See the nine rooms