Welgelegen

Stephen House and Hofmeyr House were built in 1890 as family homes, and later sheltered young adults from a Jewish orphanage nearby. Now they are Welgelegen: fourteen rooms around the leafy courtyard between the two, where a plunge pool takes the edge off a hot afternoon. Inside, the Victorian bones stay, white boarded ceilings and sash windows with wrought iron scrolled across the glass, and Africa has moved in with them: a dark headboard with two carved antelope standing on top, a marble fireplace under a painting of a man in a hat lying beside a lily pond. The bathrooms run to black and white checkerboard floors, and one to a clawfoot bath against black panelling. From the right rooms the cliffs of Table Mountain fill an arched sash; in another, a black and white panorama of the mountain hangs over the desk, for cloudy days.

Recommended for couples, and for families, who are welcome at any age: the two Superior Family Rooms sleep up to four, and babysitting can be arranged. There is no restaurant, which is no hardship with Kloof Street two minutes' walk away. Breakfast is included and made in the house, with fresh baking and hot dishes cooked to order. The South African National Gallery is fourteen minutes on foot and the sand at Camps Bay about ten by car; the longer days, round the Cape Peninsula or out to the Winelands, are arranged through RETURN Africa, whose Cape Collection the house belongs to. At five the port is poured in the courtyard lounge, on the house. There is no spa, but therapists come to the room, which spares anyone the walk across the courtyard in a towelling gown.