Behind-The-Scenes for Episode 5, The West Coast

Episode 5 finds us out and about up the wild and windy West Coast, in the seaside village of Saldanha Bay. Think of sand between your toes, more fresh seafood than you can eat, ocean vistas that stretch on forever and delicious fresh sea air, and you are pretty much there.

You can also add in a ridiculously gorgeous beach house that’s part of the Perfect Hideaways portfolio, and then you can easily imagine how happy we were to be holed up for a weekend of fishy feasting.

We’re also joined by our very good friends Mike and Meg Massingham, and their gorgeous daughter Ella. They are some of our favourite Cape Town friends (who you also briefly met in Episode 1), and Meg also happens to be a wonderfully clever photographer who took all our wedding photos. My Mum was also with us, helping out with Sophie, as she was every step of the way for over six weeks, tirelessly carting and to-ing and fro-ing and shopping and cooking and being all kinds of amazing. Really, there is absolutely no way that I could have done what I did without her help, so thank you again Mum 🙂

We also spent some of our time up the coast exploring the Sea Harvest fishery, famous for their sustainable hake and other delicious South African sea food, which we cook in this Episode, and which you’ll learn more about in Episode 12.

What you won’t’ be able to tell from your couch…

Is that I had a nasty streaming cold, and quite literally had to stop filming from time to time to relieve myself of a persistent dribble of snot that threatened to spill over into whatever I was cooking (yes, it was indeed that unglamorous).

Both Rob and Meg are allergic to prawns as well as mussels, but never mind, Mike and I and the rest of the crew didn’t hesitate for a second in eating their share. See the first pic above, that’s Nic, Luisa, myself and Minke merrily and shamelessly polishing of whatever pack-shot Luisa and Caro had just perfected.

During the course of the weekend, we went to get some ‘dreamy’ beach-side shots and all paddled out to the rocks, only to end up with half our shoes and buckets and spades swimming in the incoming tide. Never mind, Rob and Mike consoled themselves by finding a Koeksister vendor and polishing off a bag and a half before they’d even got back to the beach house.

Nic on duty with his camera at the ready in the hope of catching all the oohs and aahs.

Meg and Mike

Caro and Minke playing dress-up.
I mean, what else do you expect anyone to do when they walk into a beach house and find those things lying around?

 
Chris in contemplative conference with Minke, who was one of Sophie’s besties on set.

Like I’ve said before, Caro and Luisa’s dedication knows no bounds.
They decided that that pot needed to be white, and so out came the paint and brushes. Not a bad view though, hey?

Willie and I, and he with one of his ubiquitous cups of coffee. And don’t you dare whip out any instant stuff in his presence, he’ll either have an apoplexy or give you a stern lecture about the virtues of organically sourced and freshly ground beans.

Farrell, working late into the night, and who then obviously found something on his camera that was very well worth getting excited about.

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Here‘s where we stayed, and thanks again to Perfect Hideaways for helping us find such an idyllic spot.
And thank you again to the Sea Harvest crew for such a warm welcome to Saldanha.