‘We Love Our Village'

Passionate about local architecture, a retired couple pays homage to the charming country town of Greyton.

- Beatrice Moore-Nothnagel

“I was on a road trip with a friend and we decided to visit the iconic mission village of Genadendal,” Leoné remembers. “While there, we decided to stop in at Greyton as it’s only 5km away. I fell in love with it and bought a house in this amazing village that very same day!”

Some years later, Michel also traded the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg for the “quietude, people, nature, fresh air, lifestyle and no traffic” on offer in this small town, which is less than two hours from Cape Town by car.

Although retired, it wasn’t long before the couple became involved in village life. Since 2006, Leoné has been busy promoting tourism in Greyton and she is also involved in organising the annual Classics for All Festival. Mauritian-born Michel, who has a passion for the design and construction of houses and works ceaselessly to protect Greyton’s fragile vernacular architecture, serves on the Greyton Conservation Society and the Greyton Heritage Overlay Advisory Committee.

Renovating a brand-new house

Although the house was newly-built, the original design concept by Andrew Swain (chairman of the Aesthetics Committee) had been adapted to suit a weekend retreat, and the deviations didn’t add value to the original plan. “The building had very good bones with sensitive proportions and thoughtful, carefully-crafted symmetries and axes but some of the detail let it down,” says Michel.