Where The Good Life Is At Home, Outdoors or In

The Garden Cottages at Cassique offer their owners a host of enticing features. Beautiful Craftsman-quality construction reflects English Arts and Crafts style, while top-of-the-line finishes create elegant living environments. Yet, as with most homes that delight and inspire their owners, there’s a pièce de résistance. Each home is built around a private garden courtyard, affording continuous exposure to fresh breezes, early morning sunshine, and moonlit skies.

According to their designers, these exceptional new residences were configured to “blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor living.” Have they succeeded? “Absolutely,” says owner Donna Lasch, who, with her husband Warren, moved into their Cassique cottage near the Sports Pavilion last October. “In the quiet of the evening, you can take a few steps through the loggia, flick the switch on the fire pit, and watch the stars come out while enjoying a glass of wine. Our home also worked wonderfully when the kids were here at Easter,” Mrs. Lasch says. “We turned the heat on for the swimming pool, and our usually peaceful hideaway became an instant recreation area.”

Like the Lasches, Bob and Mo Flanagan moved from a larger home elsewhere on Kiawah to be closer to town and Cassique amenities. They were the first to live in the Garden Cottages. The inviting courtyard of their Beauty Berry Court home is open along one long side to reveal a lake and landscape view. They further enhanced indoor/ outdoor livability by creating a screened living space under the loggia. Their courtyard, which also has a pool, hot tub, and grilling area, combines Mediterranean influences such as tile, stonework, and stucco with distinctive Lowcountry touches.

The Flanagans have comfortably entertained as many as 100 people in their courtyard living area, setting up two bars, and even accommodating a small band. To make their home even more ideal for entertaining, they opted for a single large living area that integrates the primary living space with dining and kitchen areas: this expansive room overlooks, and flows freely to, the courtyard. It is an ideal mingling area.

“In the quiet of the evening, you can take a few steps through the loggia, flick the switch on the fire pit, and watch the stars come out while enjoying a glass of wine."

Courtyard views from bedrooms at opposite ends of the home also bring the outdoors in. The home incorporates other well thought-out features such as additional bright and airy living space above the detached garage, a screened in loggia, and windows that tilt inward to allow fresh air in, yet discourage uninvited visitors.

“The way our house is situated makes it extremely private,” Mr. Flanagan says. “We neither see nor hear our neighbors.” While the Garden Cottages center home life in quite, private courtyards, Kiawah Island Real Estate (KIRE) Sales Executive Gordon Hillock says close proximity to neighbors, the Sports Pavilion, and the Cassique Clubhouse creates a real sense of community. “Homes elsewhere may make owners feel insulated or isolated from the social fabric of the Island. The location and streetscape of this community makes full-time residents feel they are an integral part of life at Cassique.”

Hillock says the homes are also well designed from a “lock and leave” perspective. “You never have to worry that the lawn and landscaping won’t look maintained if you aren’t in residence,” he says. “You enjoy the equivalent of a home maintenance concierge service. You need not spend valuable time while you’re here maintaining your outdoor living environment.”

The Lasches love that while they can be at the Beach Club in 10 minutes, they walk directly to the Sports Pavilion and neighborhood walking paths. “Living here offers the best of both worlds, year-round,” Donna Lasch says. “The beauty of nature and outdoor exercise, as well as indoor fitness and health-centered recreation.”

Interested in making a Cassique Garden Cottage your home, too? Ask your KIRE Sales Executive for information.