Grand Daddy Airstream Rooftop Trailer Park, Cape Town

For the young at heart

The Grand Daddy Airstream Rooftop Trailer Park in Cape Town is a celebration of all that is young and hip. The concept is as bizarre as it is fantastic – a collection of shiny silver Airstream trailers placed at the very top of a funky hotel in the centre of the city. Walking out onto the rooftop, with its wooden walkways between the trailers, labelled red letterboxes and pretty green trees, it is like entering the mind of a creative genius.

Individually decorated trailers have creative themes like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Pleasantville and The Ballad of John and Yoko. I find my own dinky trailer, Dorothy, the pale blue inside of which is covered with white polka dots. No effort has been spared in the commitment to the concept, with the polka dot theme extending to the walls, roof, floor, fridge, radio, cups and even the dustbin. Some of the polka dots are three dimensional, and when lifted reveal a tiny art exhibition. A pair of glossy red shoes under the basin in the bathroom completes the Dorothy theme.

The trailer bathroom has a fully functional toilet and the cutest bath-shower in one corner. More gimmicky than glamour, this space is a delight for kids and the young at heart.

Accommodation Experience

I feel about a hundred years older than the average resident at the Grand Daddy Airstream Rooftop Trailer Park, though I am greeted in a friendly and inclusive way by the thinly clad pretty young things at the open air bar. Well, I figure if you are going to have a mid-life crisis, do it in style. Most of us have been so very good our whole lives – fulfilling others’ expectations of us, even adding to this with our own self-imposed achievement pressure. Mid-life (and beyond) is a psychologically exciting time to review all this. To eschew the neat, well-behaved path we are treading, which could be leading us further into estrangement from our true selves.

Mary Oliver, in her poem Wild Geese, writes:

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Driftwood Studio and Cottage, Rainbow Valley, Eastern Cape

Upon finding oneself amongst the trees

When I heard that Driftwood Studios was home to not one but two artists, I confess to being a little nervous about the quality of the accommodation. With a penchant for bright orange and purple, artists can sometimes offer fairly rustic, though colourful, places to stay. However my fears were unfounded as I discovered this quaint little gem in the quirky Rainbow Valley, in the Eastern Cape. Not a beaded curtain in sight, this rustic, thatched, tree-house-style double storey cottage is calm and minimalist, with pure white curtains and linen.

The upstairs space has a low bed, no more than a (very comfortable) mattress on the floor, which suits the hippie-style room, contrasting with the surprisingly good thread count white linen. There are windows in every part of the room, and the free-standing bath is well positioned next to the open double doors, offering both privacy and views of the trees beyond. The downstairs room is made of natural stone and offers a self-catering kitchen and cosy dining area. A private braai space and sitting area downstairs offers outdoor living amongst the hens and monkeys.

What I love about Diftwood Studios

• The architecture and decor which feels organic and natural
• The deck which is like the platform of a tree house
• The free-standing bath next to double glass doors
• The many windows facing all directions
• The beautiful woodwork, showing creative craftsmanship
• The soft low bed with views of the trees all around

Accommodation experience:

Surrounded by trees in Driftwood Cottage, it feels like one is sleeping high up in the forest canopy. I wake at one point in the night and look up to dappled moonlight coming in from all angles of the oddly shaped windows and doors. I feel a soaring happiness and gratitude at being part of this eco-friendly, thoughtful and beautiful place.

Parker Palmer describes the True Self as a friendly follower, kindly calling for our attention. He says that if we continue to ignore its pleas for us to drop our social masks, this True Self can even use drastic measures like depression, burnout and ill health to cause us to stop and listen. Perhaps we need to heed this gentle call of our True Selves and grasp onto the thin, golden threads of happiness that we find, using them to lift us into a more joyful, healthy, true self. And this is what I find at Driftwood Cottage, as grounding as it is uplifting. Without any ostentations or pretence, the organic and simple nature of the tree house calls one back to what is real and good, and invites one to be a more authentic version of oneself.