Designing settings – be they region-wide or limited to a parcel or so – is addictive. Once bitten by the bug, it’s hard to stop – and I speak as one who has designed and built enough personal spaces for myself and friends to know this for a fact 🙂 .
Someone else bitten by the bug is Sorcha Tyles. Through her Dutch Pavilion name, she’s created a range of locations down the years, from individual regions through pairs of region to, most recently, a collection of parcel-sized and homestead settings taking as their central theme a café / coffeehouse, and all of which you can read about here.
Coastal Nook is now the latest in the series, which opened (I think) earlier in November. It folds into itself elements from Sorcha’s past designs such as Stillwater Bay, the Boathouse, etc., whilst offering its own unique look and feel using a new building to house the café / bakery and a garden area hinting at a little self-sufficiency in home-grown produce.
Dutch Pavilion is brought back to life in a quiet coastal nook, where gentle stillness surrounds a small café. Watch the water from the pier, listen to the whispering breeze, or just sit and linger. Take your time, breathe, and stay as long as you wish.
– Coastal Nook About Land description
The thematically similar elements of Sorcha’s builds – the piers, wild gardens, rocky foreshores, etc., should not be sneezed at; they are very much a mark of Dutch pavilion parcel and region designs, marking them as unmistakably “Sorcha”.
For those of us who are regulars to her builds, this gives each of Sorcha’s designs a welcoming sense of comfort; a sense of coming home again, encouraging exploration to see what’s changed.
For Coastal Nooks, Sorcha has moved away from wood framed and panelled buildings in which to locate her café in recent designs, and gone for a stone-built structure. Being something of a Cory Edo fan myself, I immediately recognised it as the Trompe Loeil Soleil Greenhouse Cottage, and it is ideally suited to such a use.
With a large end-to-end interior design uncluttered by intervening walls with the inconvenience of doors, the Soleil is ideal for use as a café, and Sorcha has marvellously decorated it such that it’s a place that’s hard to leave once you’ve sat down.
The path from the waterfront Landing Point to the front porch of the café carries a familiar touch of bicycles fully in keeping with the Dutch aspect of Sorcha’s brand whilst offering outdoor seating for those who prefer being outdoors.
A branch of the path slips around the side of the building to give chance to visit the little produce garden, where fresh eggs might be gathered for use in the bakery’s delights, and veggies are being grown under glass for both sweet and savoury dishes.
Steps from this little produce garden access a split-level deck with more outdoor seating and tables for those seeking a place to sit and nibble/slurp. It is also home to some of the local geese and to two of Alpha Auer’s marvellous creations.
This is actually one of two large decks on the island – the other being the Landing Point – which may have been moorings for boats in times past. Now they offer a welcome, places to sit and for the romantically inclined, room to dance.
These are not the only piers,. Nestled between them is a small, more recent pier sticking a stubby thumb out into the water. To get to it, you’ll need to follow the sign in the café’s front garden. It offers a further spot to sit and/or cuddle. Or, for the brave, to take a dip in the sea! For my part, I preferred to sit and fuss one of the Pususaari cats to be found within Coastal Nook.
As can be expected with a setting designed by Sorcha, Coastal Nook is simply rich in detail throughout, indoors and out and, needless to say, it is utterly photogenic as well as offering a place of peace and relaxation to all who visit it.
Related Links
- Coastal Nook (Nocturne Horizons, rated Moderate)
- Coffeehouses and Cafés
