Thorsten and I recently spent three days in Suurbraak, a tiny town in South Africa’s Overberg region. Thorsten (who is an architect) designed a holiday house there several years ago; now he’s designing a second house for the same clients. I was lucky enough to get invited along on his scouting mission.

Suurbraak can be translated from Afrikaans to English in multiple ways: “Acid River”, “Acid Vomit”, or “Heartburn”. The name comes from the color of Suurbraak’s Buffeljag River; the water is the color of rust. (Apparently it has something to do with tannins.) Suurbraak’s indigenous name, !Xairu, means “Place of Paradise”, which has a much nicer ring to it. (If you’d like to learn more about Suurbraak, check out this nice little video by the African Travel Crew.)

Suurbraak is about 30 minutes from Swellendam and 45 minutes from Barrydale — two larger, more touristy towns. Suurbraak is sleepy by comparison, with just a couple of small stores and a quaint café called Paradise Organic.
We got to Suurbraak by flying from Joburg to Cape Town and then driving about three hours east. You can also fly to George and drive about two hours west.
Three Days at “the Timber House”
A cool perk of dating an architect, at least my particular architect, is that we sometimes get invited to stay in the houses he designs. I love getting to see and experience the spaces Thorsten creates, and “the Timber House” is a special one. Please humor me while I show you a series of photos and wax lyrical about my boyfriend’s work. I realize I’m biased but I suspect you’ll agree that this is a pretty bad-ass little holiday house.

Wooden houses are uncommon in South Africa and the Timber House has a unique vibe, with a huge wooden deck and a glass-enclosed living space that completely opens up into the landscape around it.












Things to Do in Suurbraak
Suurbraak is the kind of place where one aspires to do as little as possible. We spent most of our time lazing around the house, working a bit, and going for strolls up and down the “road”, which is more of a cattle track. One afternoon we walked into town, which takes about 30 minutes, and had lunch at Paradise Organic.










When it rains heavily — as it sometimes does this time of year — it’s possible to get briefly stuck at the Timber House, which is on the opposite side of the Buffeljag from town. The water usually recedes within a day.
This happened to us one day while we were there, so we couldn’t walk into town for provisions. We hardly minded though. Thorsten scrounged together what we had — flour, parmesan cheese, olive oil, chillis, peppadews from the neighbor’s garden — and made an incredible focaccia in the pizza oven. We had wine and coffee for the next morning. What more could we want?

The waters receded the next day and we left Paradise, reluctantly. I was sad. I can’t wait to go back.

What to know before you go: As I already mentioned, the Timber House is available for rent on Airbnb. Book well in advance as it’s very popular. The Timber House is solar powered and completely off the grid, so no loadshedding! Bring gumboots and plenty of food in case it rains. The house is usually accessible in a regular car — Bridget and Maggie drove us there in a Corolla — but a high-clearance vehicle is preferable during the rainy season.
Looks great. Awesome architecture.
Glad you agree!
Great article – “Time to build your own pad there”- I have always loved this particular area of RSA – Its totally captivating and a journey back in time.
I know, it’s so beautiful and relaxed.
Nice one Heather – putting this on my roadtrip bucketlist to be sure
This is your kind of place for sure.
Looks like the perfect place to escape to.
I always love your stories and photos. I look forward to them.
Thanks so much, Jackie!
What a wonderful visit to a very unique area. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Bev!
Sounds amazing heather- I so enjoy your blogs. Just makes me want to travel more and more!
Thanks so much, Brian. Hope you’re doing well!
So pretty. And with a pizza oven! Did you put pictures of waterfalls and mountains on Instagram? I saw the flooding pictures.
We didn’t really do any hiking in Suurbraak (between working and inconsistent weather) so no pictures of the waterfalls, unfortunately! Hopefully we’ll be back again in the dry season.
I love it (and the brown and white cow in the road) (and the salad). Eager to see what Thorsten designs next for them! Tough to beat this sweet house (and the location and vie w- oh my!)
I’m excited too. He has some great ideas.
Loved this post, especially as Suurbraak is close to Witsand, where I live.