OFF THE GRID
HOW A YOUNG FAMILY BROUGHT A HINT OF LUXURY TO THEIR CABIN HIDEAWAY IN THE UNTAMED SOUTH AFRICAN BUSH.
Busy entrepreneurs Samantha and William Mellor spend time out at their South African bush retreat.
THERE ARE FEW SCENES AS IDYLLIC as luxuriating in an outdoor tub in the middle of the South African bush, drink in hand, listening to birdsong and stridulating insects floating through the valley at dusk. For Samantha and William Mellor, this calming ritual is what their weekend bolthole, Cabine du Cap, is all about. As founder and CEO at 2oceansvibe Media — a popular blog turned successful multimedia news platform started in 2002 — William is rarely afforded the opportunity to switch off. In 2012, he and Samantha also joined forces to start their own cane furniture business, Malawi Cane, which exports locally made pieces around the world. As if these ventures weren’t keeping them busy enough, three years ago the couple launched the ‘du Cap Collection’, a brand which incorporates a fashion boutique, as well as a café and accommodation showcasing Malawi Cane furniture. William and Samantha’s busy lifestyle is partly what made having an isolated escape so appealing. Hidden away in the Western Cape’s semidesert Little Karoo region, the Mellors’ cabin is surrounded by 175 hectares of rugged bushland, with undulating landscape covered in tufts of green scrub and no neighbours as far as the eye can see — it almost resembles something out of the Sydney Pollack film Out of Africa. “It all started with a dream to have an outdoor tub,” says Samantha, 37, who carefully planned the placement of their open-air custom-made galvanised steel bath: close enough to the edge of their deck to feel plunged within the surrounding scrub, and far enough from the roof to get an eyeful of the starry sky at night. “We sometimes put on the whole Out of Africa soundtrack, sit in the bath and watch the sun set,” she admits, with a laugh. “It’s a bit sentimental but we embrace it.” When the couple first came across the property, located about two and a half hours’ drive east from Cape Town, off the famous Route 62 highway, the existing ramshackle structure was dwarfed by the majestic environment. “It was really just a piece of land. The empty cabin was falling apart, but it was the first place we looked at and we could see its potential,” Samantha explains. The couple decided to buy the property in early 2016 and started visiting every few weeks with their three-year-old daughter, Francesca, and labrador, Lacoste. (They welcomed a second child, Remi, early this year). The family would travel up a precarious road to the cabin, where they’d spend their days improving the infrastructure, and nights listening to the sounds of wildlife living nearby. “The first thing we needed to address was the connectivity,” says William, 40, who installed single-battery solar panels to ensure they had wi-fi. “There’s this fantasy of being totally disconnected — no cellphone signal, nothing — but that’s not realistic when you have a baby and there are scorpions in the area,” he says. “We’ve kept our footprint light — we use gas, >
solar power and rainwater. It’s as off-the-grid as we can be. And when we want to switch off, we simply turn off the wi-fi.” The couple’s vision for the cabin was inspired by the French countryside, particularly the lavender-swathed region of Luberon in Provence, where they were married in 2012. They combined that European influence with a contemporary safari style. “The themes work surprisingly well together,” says William. Samantha agrees: “When you go for walks around the cabin, it’s a lot like being in the south of France. It’s funny how the two places seem so different but actually are quite alike. They are our two favourite areas,” she says. To bring their vision to life and transform a small run-down cabin was going to take some work, so the couple asked local builder Stephen Butler to oversee the renovation. Under William and Samantha’s direction, Stephen built an impressive stone fireplace — essential for winter nights in this area — and used Rhino Wood for all internal walls, floors and ceilings, as well as outdoor decking. The couple love the look of the Rhino Wood — sustainable South African pine wood, which is thermally treated to improve durability and stability — because of how nicely it blends in with the surrounding natural environment. Using it from the inside out also expands the living space and helps make it feel bigger. The interiors were Samantha’s domain; having worked in the retail industry for more than 10 years, she has a good eye for styling and used vintage trunks and bird motifs throughout the cabin. The couple was resourceful when it came to finding special pieces for the home, scouring auctions and making use of family hand-me-downs. For Samantha, inspiration came in many forms — movies, French flea markets and stacks of interior design magazines. However, nothing was as influential as the landscape itself and so a neutral, earthy palette mimics the semi-arid Karoo landscape outside the cabin, while books about the local plants and birdlife pack the shelves inside. “What’s really been amazing is how much we’ve learned about birds and the bush here — we can actually name some of the plant species now,” says Samantha, who delights in pointing out Botterboom succulents with their thick trunks to visitors. The Mellors also enjoy admiring the shrubland that covers the Karoo, changing colour with the seasons from yellow to red. In the cooler months, a mass of Erica plants bring a beautiful purple haze across the valley. At night their attention turns upwards. “The stars really take you aback. I know, it sounds like a cliché,” says William, “but you don’t really understand until you’re here — it’s completely silent and the moon is like a spotlight… You stand here and all your troubles go away.” For more information about Samantha and William or to rent their house, visit cabineducap.com or 2oceansvibe.com