We kindly ask our guests to observe the following rules:
1. Safety precautions and use of our alarm system
We are running Constantia Cottages since 2006. Since then there have been just one break-in into garage and no further thefts. Our area of Constantia "Morningstar/The Vines" counts as one of the safest areas of Cape Town. Of course, this is greatly helped by our safety precautions in this area especially the dominant presence of armed response and patrol as well as the eyes and ears of our neighbourhood watch.
Our guests can feel safe and at ease on our property and move about in the building day and night with no problems. We do however expect that our guests do their bit in helping with our security precautions and pay attention to the following matters:
… upon entering the property
Please close the main gate and garage doors immediately after driving in. These may not be kept open for any length of time. Passengers can get out of the car in the garage when the garage door is closed behind them, only then can the boot of the car get opened and the luggage taken out. Please inform us about any unusual or suspicious activity in the vicinity.
… upon exiting the property
Before you are leaving the property you must make sure that all windows of your unit are closed and the internal alarm system is activated. You have to use the remote (blue button) given to you by us. Please put away all valuables in your safe before you leave the property. Please lock the door of your unit and of the entrance hall (if applicable). The garage door and main gate should only be opened once all passengers are in the car, once the motor has started. The garage and main gate must be operated via the remote control given to you, you cannot rely on the door closing itself completely.
... during your stay on the property
Before our guests retire for the night all windows must be closed except to leave them open a tiny bit so that the activation of the alarm system by the tapping in of the code is possible. Out of pure safety reasons we urgently advise you to activate your own alarm at night, although we have not had any break-ins in all those years. Caution is however better. The system must be on "closed", which can be seen by a blue light on a prominent place in your unit. Should the alarm go off by accident it causes a bit of a stir in that case you have to inform us immediately, personally at the Main House or by phone.
ATTENTION:
The landlord is not responsible for any damages or disadvantages, if the guest has not carried out the safety precautions correctly, especially in case he has not activated the alarm system when leaving the rental units or during night. All the safety controls around the buildings are managed by us and add extra security for our guests.
2. Smoking on the premises
Smoking is strictly forbidden in all buildings. We do allow smoking outside in the garden and on the patios but we do ask you not to flick the ash or cigarette butts around. We can provide you with a wind protected ashtray that should then only be emptied into the rubbish bin outside the buildings.
3. Use of the swimming pool and garden
The swimming pool and the large garden in front of and on the garden side of the swimming pool with the sun beds in front of the fountain can be used by all our guests until 8h00pm latest. There is also a swing bench, a metal seating group next to the swimming pool and the stone seating group within the flowerbeds with facilities for braai available.
The upper part of the garden with the two-storey cottage is allocated to the guests of the Cottage Cabernet and the terrace next to the entrance hall is allocated to the guests of the Junior-Suite Pinotage. This also applies to the small garden and patio behind the small cottage which can only be used by guests occupying the Cottage Chardonnay. The patio and the area under the pergola behind the swimming pool with the two seating areas between Main House and Cottage Cabernet are private and exclusively allocated to the owners of Constantia Cottages.
The swimming pool can be used between 8.00am and 8.00pm daily. The cleaning tool (our robot called "Harry") not be removed from the pool and can't be taken apart or stood upon. Please help us saving the valuable water and don't take it out of the pool unnecessarily by excessive jumping in and out of the pool or splashing about.
White towels to be used in the bathrooms only, not at pool site! Colored towels are meant to be used at garden and pool site, available in the entrance hall and being left at pool site when used!
4. Parking
The guest are expressly asked to use the allocated parking only and to leave the car well positioned with enough space for the other guests cars!!!
We ask our guests to lock their cars and to close all the windows even they are parked in a garage. Under no circumstances should any valuables, handbags or articles of clothing be left in the car. This rule should apply whether the car is outside or inside a garage.
5. Rubbish
All rubbish should be put into the coloured bins which are situated within the court yard in front of the double garage at Walloon Road or respectively in the double garage built next to the Cottage Cabernet.
WE DO RECYCLING: Please place paper, plastics and glass/bottles separated from the other rubbish in the dedicated bin! Due to lack of space we ask you to make the rubbish smaller or to fold or squash it up, e.g. empty plastic bottles or boxes. All bins are emptied every Friday. Organic rubbish should be put into plastic bags and not directly (loose) into the empty bins to avoid bad smells.
6. Barbeque (braai) and open fires
We provide our guests with a Weber grill. Charcoal is not necessarily available unless previous guests have left some behind. Firewood and wood as well as gas or charcoal is to be purchased by the guest (self-catering). Kindly don't grill too smoky - the other guests will be graceful not to end up smoked themselves. It goes without saying you have to be very careful with outside fires and that the grill and grill place should be left in exactly the same condition in which it was found.
The feeding of our dogs is strictly prohibited!
7. Satellite /TV Programme
All our units are fitted with Smart-TVs linked directly to the Internet (to receive TV-channels in other languages then English). In addition to that we do offer a special DStv-Bouquet (incl. sports, news, cartoons and movie channels.
8. Guests of our guests
In general, overnight stays of friends of our guests are not allowed! However in well-founded exceptional cases, based on extra cost if the visitors sum up to more than the standard occupancy, overnight stays can be arranged with us for a specific time.
Our guests may invite friends to barbeque or just to stay in the main garden or on their private patio or terrace, but it shouldn't go beyond the scope of the usual, especially the rights of the neighbouring guests of Constantia Cottages to enjoy their holidays in an appropriate atmosphere must be taken into account. Therefore we allow ourselves to limit number of visitors to the number of our guests accommodated, how long they intend to stay for and what sort of noise it entails.
We do generally not allow proper parties or receptions with more than 4 guests.
9. Electricity and water
Electricity and water are included in the daily rate all year long, so it's for free (no add. cost). BUT…..
Caused by less rainfall and a significant increasing usage the level of the dams around Cape Town got down year by year and have generated serious water crises for the entire Cape Peninsula in summer 2017. At Constantia Cottages the guests are not limited in water usage, but we have to ask our guest to save water whenever and where ever they can, e.g. by having a shower for not more than 5 minutes and to save gray water in buckets and tubs (in shower cabins) which they should pour onto allocated flower beds in our garden.
ATTENTION: We cannot be held responsible for power cuts or water stoppage which is in the hands of the local authorities, for example burst water pipes. Although no refund on rent in such cases.
10. Customer billing
We keep a guest account for every guest where we list extra activities such as booked tours or shuttle service as well as consumption of wines and food, e.g. organized grill evenings. Balance must be paid latest on the day of departure in cash.