Warner Beach is special in that it has a very relaxed and welcoming vibe. From the moment you leave your car and feel the sea breeze on you skin and fall under the lull of the waves rolling in you know you are on holiday and that the world is a beautiful place. It is impossible to feel stressed on this beach.
If you are considering visiting Warner Beach or have already booked your Warner Beach accommodation, then you are probably keen to see what activities are available and what there is to do in the area.
Beaches and Activities
The beach area is expansive and the golden sand is the perfect place to spread out your towel and catch a suntan. The tidal pool is large, inviting and perfect for a dip when you need to cool down. There is a Take Away restaurant next to the beach where you can get a bite to eat or something cool to drink. The covered sitting area offers gorgeous views in all directions.
Doonside Beach is close by and worth the short walk to reach it. It has a great swimming area and the raised viewing deck offers breathtaking views. If fishing is you thing you will be happy to know the Warnadoone Skiboat Club is conveniently located next to the beach. Less than a block away the Warnadoone Shore Angling Club and The Fishing Tackle Shop can be found if you need supplies. There is no need to be a club member if you are a holiday goer as everyone is welcome.
GPS: -30.079, 30.87119 Use the map below to find your way to this lovely beach. It is indicated by the bottom red marker.
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Drone Shots Warner Beach (South Africa)
Royston Hall: A Historical Landmark
Royston Hall, about three kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Umzimkulu River has had a bird’s eye view of the activities along the riverbank for more than a century. This Victorian Manor with an added annexure of 4-bedroom suites is in a private 14.8-acre indigenous forest nature reserve. Ria is an accomplished interior designer. The current owners Ria and Roderick Hackland acquired the property in 2009 and the property, now known as Royston Hall, was converted to an upmarket guesthouse and home for the Hacklands, who treasure the property and its important heritage.
The Manor has two entrance halls, patios, library, dining room and lounge on the ground floor and four of nine bedrooms atop the grand wooden staircase, on the first floor. The house has Oregon Pine sash windows, floors and stairway and a large bay window with views over the Umzimkulu River. Victorian lamps with porcelain bowls for fuel, hang from the ceilings and stained-glass in the doors enhance the mansions ambiance.
Early History and Ownership
This Crown property was granted by public auction to John Henry Woods in 1897 and then sold to owner of the Curry Shipping Line, Charles Hitchens, in 1898. The house was completed in 1902. Built by George Sinclair and his son Colin, the house was to be used as a beach cottage by Hitchen’s wife. She rejected the home as being too remote and not on the beach, and it was sold to Hugh Lancaster Corbett in 1904. He sold it to Durban born and Durban High School educated John Royston, who was the 4th son of William Royston of Bellair. He only took transfer in 1919, having lived in the house since 1906 and farmed along the Old St Faiths Road.
The Royston Era
Brigadier General John (Jack) Robinson Royston, (29 April 1860 - 29 April 1942), a highly respected cavalryman, moved into the house in the early 1900’s and named it ‘Mount Romani’, after the battle he had led at Mount Romani against the Turks in the Gaza strip, Palestine in 1917. Royston had first seen service in the Anglo Zulu War with Lord Chelmsford in 1879, the Anglo Boer War (1899-1902) and the Bhambatha Rebellion of 1906. During WWI, he was operational firstly in South West Africa and later in North Africa. He was awarded the DSO in 1902 and the Order of St Michael and George (CMG) in 1903, after the Anglo Boer War. He was nicknamed ‘Galloping Jack’ by the Australian troops in WWI as commander of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Brigade.
Royston married his first wife, Lillian (nee Hough) in 1903, who died in 1926 having born him a son, John who died childless in 1971, and daughters Marjorie who died in 1928 and Vivian who married John Stranack. Royston in 1937 married Mildred Wright who lived there after the 82-year-old, Royston’s death in 1942, only to be murdered by the gardener, Mdudulwa Ngwazi, on 2 September 1959. Mildred had returned unexpectedly and found him helping himself to her property. Mildred was strangled on the stairway leading to the upper bedrooms and her body hidden in an alcove. Mdudulwa was charged, found guilty and hanged for his crime.
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Royston was first buried on the property. His body was exhumed in 1974 and was reinterred in Durban’s Wyatt Road Military Cemetery next to his friend, General Molyneaux. Royston had made it a condition of his will that the property never be sold and should be handed down the male family line. Seth Stranack, the only remaining male descendent had this clause overturned by the courts, as he was living in the United States and had no intention of returning to South Africa.
Later History and Restoration
The property was empty for 15 years after Mildred’s death and was cared for by Royston’s godson Charles Foxon until acquired from Seth Stranack by the Blankenberg family in 1974. By now the house was in a derelict state requiring restoration. The Blankenberg’s built the pool and did the first major restoration of the property. The house was next acquired by NPC in 1981 and used as an engineer’s residence and site office whilst the tunnels were built. The tennis courts and club house on a level site leading down to the river were used for storage and no longer exist, other than the tall palm trees marking the pathway.
Two years later, in 1986, the house was acquired by big game hunter and former coffee farmer from Kenya, Richard Kotovich. The house was extensively damaged by a fire in 1988 and restored by the Kotovich family who were the owners at the time. The third-floor bedroom was not replaced after the fire.
Transportation and Infrastructure
The south bank had a bridle path along which horses drew barges and tugs from the lime and marble, upstream quarries, and to ‘Nomansland’, now Transkei, and to the old Cape Colony. directly below Royston Hall to access the roads leading north to Durban, or along the Old St Faith’s Road to the interior. This road was the original road to the house, but it was washed away in the 1959 flood. This old crossing was then superseded by the shared road/rail bridge that ran from the now Port Shepstone Country Club on the north bank, across to Spillers Wharf, on the south bank. Floods in May 1959 took care of this combined link and it was replaced by the road/rail bridge at the river mouth.
As if all this action was not enough, in 1983, the local Natal Portland Cement Company built two tunnels of 810m and 140m, almost under Royston Hall. They now haul lime intermittently, with 3 locos and 43 trucks, from Simuma Lime Works to the Coedmore factory close to Durban.
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| Event | Year |
|---|---|
| John Henry Woods acquired the property | 1897 |
| Charles Hitchens acquired the property | 1898 |
| House completed | 1902 |
| Hugh Lancaster Corbett acquired the property | 1904 |
| John Royston acquired the property | 1919 |
| Mildred Wright murdered | 1959 |
| Blankenberg family acquired the property | 1974 |
| Royston Hall converted to a guesthouse | 2009 |
Accommodation Near Warner Beach
- Waves of Mercy is located in Trafalgar, KwaZulu Natal. Accommodation is offered in several rooms with breath-taking sea views.
- Located in the town of Leisure Bay, Peter Pan Place offers accommodation in holiday villas. The house accommodates seven guests and has three bedrooms. The first bedroom has a double bed and a single bed.
- Seagull 508 provides holiday accommodation in Margate right on Main Beach.
- Situated in Uvongo, Saints View 25 offers accommodation in an apartment that sleeps a total of eight guests.
- Beachwood Cottage is a charming self-catering home in Ramsgate, designed with a warm log cabin atmosphere.
- Located in the Spindrift complex in Margate, Spindrift 4 provides accommodation for four guests.
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