I live in a beautiful village in South Africa called Pennington. It’s on the Natal South Coast and is a real “sleepy hollow”. I’m only 300 metres from a quiet beach – but mostly too lazy to walk down there! I sit on my verandah instead and look out over an acre of land to the Indian Ocean. The views are stunning and it’s really a great lifestyle. We have a few shops in the village but the nearest small town with big shops, banks etc is only about 15 minutes drive away.
Remarkably we have two great golf courses in Pennington. Best known one is Selborne, which is a magnificent residential golf estate with a hotel and a superb course. Not an easy one as there is water on fifteen of the eighteen holes! My favourite is Umdoni Park. This is a public course and part of the Umdoni Trust, which means that the course – and the surrounding nature reserve – belongs to the nation. There is a friendly Club and the course itself is a real “hidden” gem, very hilly but with spectacular views from most holes.
The coastline is fabulous with miles of sandy beaches. Pennington has the advantage of being only 45 minutes drive from the lively city of Durban. If you’re a golfer there are stacks of lovely golf courses within an hour’s drive. It’s a paradise for fishermen too, and the Aliwal Shoal diving haven is less than 30 minutes away.
The province of KwaZulu Natal has lots to offer, apart from miles of sandy beaches, excellent fishing and scuba diving. Not far away are wonderful game reserves, magnificent mountains, battlefields, historic architecture and a diversity of cultures. Plus the climate is pretty wonderful. I’ve lived in this part of the world for over thirty years and it really is a great place to be – even if you are just here for a few months of the year to escape Europe’s freezing winters! We find a lot of people from overseas with holiday homes here, visiting in our summer months, which are basically November – March. However even in our winter the days are generally sunny and warm, with very little rain. You might say I live in a little piece of paradise!