The Brass Bell is a Kalk Bay/Cape Town institution. It’s a rambling seaside pub and restaurant, right on the sea. In fact, at high tide, pick a table on the edge of the verandah and you’ll get sprayed by waves breaking against the wall. It has an absolutely brilliant tide pool to swim in, which has been there for so long that it almost seems part of the ocean. Get lucky and you can see whales or dolphins from where you sit. The food’s OK but we go for the oysters – straight out of the sea and served on huge platters.

If you can drag yourself away from the Bell, Kalk Bay itself is a charming, slightly hippie-ish seaside town with fun shops for browsing. You can get the train here from Cape Town, but when I was there last I was advised to be careful not to travel this route alone or at night, so heads up about that.