Rutland Lodge

Eight years ago, Frenchman Jean-Joseph Dorval moved to Cape Town from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion – because he wanted to enjoy the beauty and the attractions of the vibrant mother city, the city he had dreamt about as a boy. 

The edge of the world

Growing up in France, Jean-Joseph used to daydream about all the places he would visit. One of these was Cape Town; “Du Cap;” in French. “That meant the very edge of the world. I knew that one day I would visit Cape Town but when I first drove into the city I knew that this was where I wanted to stay.”

As a foreigner, though, his work options were limited and Jean-Joseph resolved on self-employment. With backing from a Belgian/Swiss couple living in Kenya, he bought Rutland Lodge, a stunning Cape Dutch manor house in Oranjezicht in the City Bowl of Cape Town.

Grand but gracious

Rutland House was designed by the firm of Sir Herbert Baker, the architectural genius who designed much of Randlord Johannesburg and imperial New Delhi. It is a grand but gracious, high-ceilinged masterpiece of a house that snatches everything its architects possibly could from its location in one of the world’s most stunning urban locations.

Already a five-star guesthouse with six en-suite rooms and suites, Jean-Joseph continued the establishment’s reputation for excellence but added his own French perfectionist touches. “It’s just my personality, I suppose, but I insist that everything has to be perfect. I tell my staff that we ourselves should be prepared to eat off the floors.

“But what we are really trying hard to achieve is the personal touch. We want to make this feel homely. We are especially welcoming and friendly while giving guests as much space as they want. If there is no staff around, guests know that they are welcome to go into the kitchen to fix themselves a drink. If they wish, we will take guests to the shops when we do our shopping for the guesthouse. That feeling of being at home is our niche.”

Some 90 percent of guests at Rutland Lodge are foreigners and most of these come from Europe. Marketing the guesthouse, which Jean-Joseph does himself, is mostly confined to the Internet. He recalls that TEP first contacted him and that, being the perfectionist he is, it took him “two days to reach a decision on whether to work with them.”

Deciding that he wanted to use whatever resources TEP could produce was absolutely the right decision, Jean-Joseph says. The cluster concept is going ahead and he can only see an upside for his business and those other businesses involved. “I’m very keen on this whole initiative. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.”

“I grew up in Brittany, lived in Paris and moved to Reunion, but island life wasn’t for me. I used to come to Cape Town for real life; for theatre, movies, shops, even, yes, I suppose, the traffic.”