The smallholding of Oude Raap Kraal sits at the foot of the Muizenberg Mountains, facing north, from where on a clear day one gets a panoramic view that stretches from the Perdeberg Mountains in the west to the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the east. Brendan Ashley-Cooper’s grandfather bought the property in 1946 and the family, along with their cow, Honeybell, has lived there since. Brendan, who produces Oude Raap Kraal honey from his 900 hives scattered across the Boland, shows me around the property: the old barn, the pond and the cottage where he grew up.

While he does so, I am reminded of a quote by the pianist Laurent de Wilde about fellow jazzman, Thelonious Monk. Monk, he said, was: ‘a farmer in cattle land. Herds of cattle stampede around his little garden mooing and kicking up a lot of dust, but he just goes on cultivating his little tomatoes. He’s a wonderful example of obstinancy. The lesson is be obstinate in your search for excellence.’ For while Brendan tends his bees, all around him is change and a lot of dust is getting kicked up too.

‘This all used to be my back garden...’ Brendan says, his voice trailing off, as he waves his arm in the direction of the housing development on the mountain behind him. Brendan is trying to disguise the fence that has been erected along his boundary with new trees but within a few years, it won’t be enough to shield him from his new neighbours: some of the 296 homes that form the Stonehurst Mountain Estate.

In the past five years, Tokai, a suburb at the tail end of the Constantia Valley, has been transformed. Despite a gradual increase in houses replacing farmland since the middle of the last century, Tokai has always maintained the air of rural relaxation. Today residents still refer to it as ‘the village’ and houses there are very sought after. As local Remax agent Russell Pearson says: ‘When we pick up properties in the village, they go very quickly.’

What is driving the profile change of the area is the number of secure housing developments that have either been completed over the past five years or are in the process of construction. The seeds of change blew in with the development of the Steenberg Golf Estate in 1990, when members of the Louw family (descendents of one of the oldest families in the area) sold 203 hectares of the Steenberg Farm to Johannesburg Consolidated Investments. The Steenberg Golf Estate, complete with 24-hour security, a hotel, spa and restaurant, winery and golf course, is now regarded by developers, residents and tourists as a model of its kind: a beautifully maintained, safe estate surrounded by mountains and vines. Homes on the estate seldom come onto the market and when they do prices begin at approximately R6.5-million and extend up to R20-million.

Steenberg is the oldest farm in the Constantia Valley, an area blessed with mountains, vines and trees. The land, which was granted to Catharina Michiels in 1682, bordered the farm of the then governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, who only began to develop his farm, Groot Constantia, three years later. The farm known as Tokai was granted in 1792 (prior to that, Van der Stel had grazing rights on the land). In 1795 the architect Louis Thibault was commissioned to build the farm’s manor house. Tokai Manor House is characterised by its unnaturally high stoep and beautiful square front gable. The house, which today has fallen into a state of disrepair and is not open to the public, sits squarely at the entrance of the Tokai forest, where Van der Stel planted 4 400 oaks among the indigenous trees. During the 1880s, when the country faced a timber shortage, a large amount of Monterey pines were added to the forest. Tokai, being a relatively wind-free area, is home to thriving pines, which give the area a sense of beauty plus the feeling of a forest at the edge of your back garden.

The wind, however, does whip around the Muizenberg Mountains but that hasn’t deterred buyers from the new, elevated estate on its slopes. All 184 plots plus 112 homes in two Lifestyle Villages within the Stonehurst Mountain Estate have been sold and an on-site Lifestyle Centre has been completed. What the property developers think of the area is clear from their mountainside billboards: ‘Silvermine? Gold mine!’ they proclaim.

Across Ou Kaapse Weg is Silvertree Estate, another housing development where the 180 homes are valued at between R3.8-million and R9-million. Besides the obvious safety appeal, the estate has proved popular due to its proximity to the adjacent Reddam School (a gate links the school to the estate) and to the nearby Steenberg Office Park and Westlake Business Park. As a result of these developments, and the American Embassy situated close by, money has poured into the area. Niche shopping centres such as Steenberg Village and Westlake Lesisure Centre have sprung up nearby.

Russell Pearson of Remax says: ‘Tokai has a great future. People are getting what they want because they can build what they want.’ Although there are architectural guidelines in Silvertree, the homes seem to be a mixed bag of styles, from discreet minimalism to prominent Tuscan and Provençal. Stonehurst Estate has laid down strict architectural guidelines, including slate roofs, earthy colours and stone facades and finishes.

The village area of Tokai is built on a grid on either side of Tokai Road and divided into different areas, including Dennendal and Morningside. Dennendal has bigger plots that often back onto the forest and command prices in the region of R4-million for a three-bedroom home; Morningside is situated across Tokai Road, nestled behind Tokai’s quaint library. While properties are less expensive on the other side of the M3 (where a two- or three-bedroom house can be bought for R1-million to R1.5-million in security estates such as Tokai Hamlets and Tokai Villas), prices for a three-bedroom home in the village start at approximately R3-million.

Gail Horsley from Greeff Properties says the village area is always popular, with demand outstripping supply despite what some may perceive as a drawback – its close proximity to the ultimate gated community: Pollsmoor Prison. Although the odd prisoner protest of clanging enamel cups has been heard once or twice, most residents shrug at the incongruity of a luxury estate staring bang into the face of a prison. Security in the area is especially good – local ADT security man, Sia Neleni, says he has only been called for one break-in in the past year.

Diane Garner from Pam Golding Properties says: ‘The mix of retired folks plus young families is good in an area, as people are at home all day.’

At the far end of the Tokai Road, between Steenberg and the Porter Estate (a former reformatory with administration buildings and a stone church designed by Herbert Baker), is Zwaanswyk, where a cluster of deluxe homes and smallholdings are located. Residents commenting on the security in the area point out that only one road leads in and out of the area, and laud the services provided by the Mountain Men Security Company.

This is home to the area’s equestrian set and properties won’t sell unless accompanied by at least an acre of land. One house in Zwaanswyk is currently on the market for R17-million but prices begin at R4-million. A resident who recently bought a house on Zwaanswyk Road said she had moved from the city bowl to make a lifestyle change: ‘I wanted space and a property to do our own thing.’ The only downside to her new-found rural retreat? ‘I spend quite a bit of time chasing off the baboons. I can’t leave a door or window open, or plant a veg garden! But that’s the worst part of living here.’

Tucked away at the end of what feels like a country lane in Zwaanswyk sits Stillness Manor, a spa in a beautifully restored Cape Dutch-style home. While the sun begins to set in the distance, a few guests swim leisurely lengths while others engage in the less strenuous activity of magazine-page flicking. Gazing out across False Bay, the spa’s managing director, Patrick Mahue, says he is intent on keeping the clientele local: ‘We thought hotels in Cape Town were too expensive and too focused on the foreign market. We are 100-per-cent-focussed on the local market because we think spas are places you should go to regularly.’

But it’s not all serenity and relaxation in this neck of the Tokai woods. The sight of riders, trotting their mounts past runners on the roads is common. And Saturday mornings herald a revolution of Lycra as mountain-bike riders head to the trails in the forest. One rider rapturously describes cycling 11 kilometres to the summit while the sunrise shone through the trees. Meanwhile down the road on the grounds of the Porter Estate is the Saturday morning Porter Estate Produce Market, bringing a new stream of visitors up the beautiful tree-lined road.

On the surface, Tokai has its fair share of picket-fence normality, but it throws up a colourful past. There are tales of a ghost at the manor house, a Grand Prix track on the Pollsmoor site in the 1930s, a reform school in the woods, and famous visitors – such as Vivian Leigh and Tyrone Power – being entertained at Steenberg.

Now more than ever a lot of buyers are looking at Tokai to be part of what agent Gail Horsley calls ‘a country feeling within a town’ . She says they have a waiting list of potential buyers, be they couples scaling down from larger Constantia homes or younger families scaling up from nearby Lakeside or Kirstenhof.For some residents, such as Aubrey Swart who has lived here for 15 years, everything he needs is close by and nothing can beat the tranquility he finds here among the mountains and trees.
‘I wouldn’t sell,’ he says. ‘I’m bond free. What am I going to do? Spend a million to buy somewhere else? No, thank you.’