We've lived, laughed and loved across the world - Shpoggle Island Surf House is a collection of that. The surf house is inspired by times admiring Oaxacan streets, showering in Cappadocia bathrooms, collecting French 00s art, visiting Berlin's Bauhaus Archives, and nostalgic throwbacks to surf and skate lodges we've visit (hey Ericeira and JBay)! We've built a Plett house we'd love to stay at - starting with the basics - the beach is only a 5 minute walk away from the house! 🐚

And then - there's the fun. Our climbing gym, from Gqeberha, is there for the climbers out there (adults only, bring your shoes), and our hammock nets, from France, remind us of evenings spent stargazing on Mida Creek in Watamu (spot the satellites in the Plett skies!). Our indoor pool - it's Moroccan-themed with Sayyida the Pirate as its custodian - a nod to Tamraght and Plett being beach-town sisters. 🧿

Having grown up in Plett, we love shopping local - you'll find many South African touches in the house.

The founders

Jessie grew up in Plett - you'll find her climbing, skipping, or making art, when she's not working in tech in Europe. Chris grew up in France - you'll find him climbing, boxing, surfing and snowboarding, when he's not working as an international war journalist. We spend our time between Istanbul (with our two adopted street cats), London and Lisbon.

Our team

Sue (pictured left) is the general manager of Shpoggle Island, and Jessie's mom. She's Old Plett - having moved here in her 20s. She has guest house experience, establishing Bitou River Lodge from empty farm land to award-winning guest lodge over 25 years. For fun, she runs the local bodyboarding community, Granny Groms.

We have a wonderful team to support your stay, including our cleaning ladies Zoliswa (or Pamela) and her aunt Maria. Bruce helped to renovate the house, and is our talented handyman. And then, we have our gardeners Haswell and Laurent, who helped to transform our garden from jungle to thriving indigenous garden, together with Mom's green fingers!

But wait..what's a shpoggle?

Shpoggle, pronounced "Shhhhp-oh-ggle" (no "gggg"ing your g's!) is a made up noun we've come up with when we find something cool, weird, or out-of-the ordinary out there in the world.

For Chris, this can be bizarre things he finds in war zones, for Jessie, it's usually rocks, shells or second-hand finds. At Shpoggle Islande, some of our favourite shpoggles are the taxidermied puffer fish, a makarapa soccer world cup hat, and an Owl House owl.