WHEN I WAS LESS than 8 years old,  my uncle and aunt took their young daughter and me to the Norfolk coast. We travelled there by car in their Citroën. All that I can remember of this holiday was that we stayed in a circular cottage wirth a conical thatched roof. It was like what in South Africa is called a ‘rondavel’.

The rondavel  we stayed in was not in South Africa but at Winterton-on-Sea on the coast of Norfolk. The resort, which still exists and was fully booked when we paid a brief visit in May 2025, is called Hermanus is the name of a popular seaside resort on the south coast of the Cape Province of South Africa.

Although the Hermanus resort at Winterton-on-Sea changed hands about 50 years ago, its original owners were South Africans. And because my aunt was born in South Africa,  it was likely that this resort in Norfolk was chosen for a short break because of its South African owners and the rondavels.