The little known seaside village of Clovelly backs onto the Kalkbay mountains and overlooks the Silvermine River estuary and wetlands near Fish Hoek valley. When living here, breathtaking views of the sun setting at Long Beach in Kommetjie and Noordhoek across one of the country’s most pristine golf courses, are an everyday occurrence.
Longtime residents say their suburb’s westerly location can be likened to a bitter-sweet pill, because during hot summer months most properties enjoy superb shelter from the South Easter. Tree lined plots and streets provide brilliant shade and cool summer homes. Yet, because during the cold and wet winter months the sun only crosses over from Kalkbay around 11am, many households prefer to keep fireplaces going throughout the day. They also say their best investments here, apart from valuable real estate, have been superior quality indoor heating systems and insulation for interior warmth.
Although most of the houses are set back from the Main Road among the trees around the golf course on the flatter area, with others further up against the mountain, this suburb’s location opposite the beach at Clovelly Corner is picturesque. Residents say that living further back from this popular beach is ideal during peak holiday seasons, providing a perfect retreat from the crowds and heavy traffic.
Agents say that Clovelly’s population of approximately 500 adult residents chose to live there either because of the close proximity to the local golf course, or schools, beaches and mountains. With the majority of residents having lived there for 11 years and more, this suburb has made its mark as one where property owners can create beautiful gardens and plant trees to their hearts’ delight because of the favourable weather conditions.
The Clovelly Country Club boasts a pristine 18 hole golf course, with origins going back to when two entrepreneurs, namely Gus Ackerman and Michael Pevsner rescued the original nine hole Clovelly Golf Links from closing. After buying the property that is located on a farm once called “Klein Tuin” for 3 000 pounds in 1932, the Clovelly Country Club was officially opened in 1934. Historic records show the reason for the purchase of the property was “that the aforesaid land shall only be used for sporting and other activities of the Clovelly Country Club from the membership of which no person shall be debarred by reason of race, religious denomination or creed”. Together the two entrepreneurs managed and chaired the club until Raymond Ackerman succeeded his father in the President’s chair in 1966. The club remains a firm favourite of Cape golfers where the Raymond Ackerman Golf Academy now also offers an outreach program for young adults and children.
Property prices in Clovelly have showed constant growth since 2004 when average freehold property values of R543 000 increased to R1.8 by 2010. The first decline in property prices here was seen this year, where to date average prices recorded are around R1.544, yet it received 119th ranking among 571 in Cape Town’s municipal ranking schedule. It also sits comfortably between two wealthy False Bay neighbours, Kalkbay and St James where average freehold property prices are R3.3 million and R3.8 respectively. Finding property for rent in Clovelly is a rare occurance, and residents say it gets lapped up within days from coming onto the market.