A Pooh in Every Corner

With a mountain at its back and the sea near its feet, this Noordhoek garden is a green gem.

- By Connall Oosterbroek

In April 1994, ceramic artist Kathy and her retired headmaster husband Gavin, took a bold step and bought a patch of land in Noordhoek. Totally undeveloped apart from the remnants of a 100-year-old road, this forested plot was crying out for some moulding and shaping and a world apart from their previous house – a tiny semi-detached cottage in Wynberg with a little cottage garden.

“There were so many trees that we could not make a straight line with the red and white tape, to mark offwhere the house would go,” says Kathy. “Slowly but surely, we removed quite a bit of spikethorn (Gymnosporia buxifolia) and some rather large silverleaf poplars (Populus alba) to open up an area for a lawn and garden beds. Also a few of the very large old oak trees needed to be cut back to build the house.”

“Many years ago, a friend told me that the secret to a beautiful garden was to do one thing every day,” says Kathy.