One would imagine that a coastal village like Kleinmond would have little shops with strings of bokkoms dangling from the ceiling. But instead of the smelly dried herring, biltong is draped along the back walls.
One section of the main road has no fewer that three such shops within 50 paces of each other, plus a large butchery. It tells you something about the people who live here. Theirs is the inland preference for meat.
There is another quality the inlanders have brought to the little town set at the furthest curve of the Walker Bay coastline at the foot of the fynbos-covered Palmietberg.
You can see by the demeanour of passers-by that these are people used to projecting an air of piety.
Not for nothing is Kleinmond called the retirement village of Dutch Reformed ministers.
Just past the biltong shops, on the main road to Botrivier and Hermanus, there was another sight that defined the place's character.
There they were, a group of people clad in white, playing bowls on immaculate lawns.
Right alongside there was another group in far less formal attire engaging in a robust game of jukskei on a decidedly rustic pitch.
The town's connection with Afrikaner history goes far back.
It was the holiday home of D F Malherbe, one of the early champions of the Afrikaans language.
He wrote a novel there titled Hans Die Skipper that was published in 1929.
Themed on the patriarchal nature of Afrikaner society, it was about the conflict between a fisherman and his son.
In 1953 it was turned into an Afrikaans film that used the town and its small fishing harbour as its setting.
Malberbe's house has been neatly preserved. It is named Hans Die Skipper, after his book, and has a tablet in the garden bearing a eulogy to the author.
It is situated on the seafront opposite an outcrop of rocks where crashing waves send up curtains of spray that are carried along some distance by a strong south-easterly. Fading white footprints painted on the rocks guide sightseers to a seat-like formation among the crags where Malberbe is said to have often sat pondering his story line.
Stretching east from the rocks, across the mouth of a large lagoon is a wide, white beach that begs a barefoot stroll in the shallow water.
Keep walking and at a wetland reserve called Rooisand, you might spot the area's famous wild horses. The animals live in the wetland and have adapted to their environment by pushing their faces under water to get to grass. They are believed by some to be descendants of horses that were hidden in the mountains during the Anglo-Boer War.
There are beautiful trails of different distances and grades of difficulty winding among the fynbos along the mountain slopes. But for a leisurely, enchanting stroll along the coast, there is a footpath leading west from the rocky outcrop. It winds among the rocks and sweet-scented coastal brush in which little birds flit about. After a while it emerges from behind a craggy knoll on to a section of flat ground that has a concrete slab sloping into the sea.
This is the site of the old harbour from which the story's Hans Die Skipper launched his fishing trawler. The harbour's thick cement walls are still intact, and the rusty winch with which the boats were once hauled out is still there.
The coastal meander continues on the other side of the level patch. It leads to the Palmietrivier that springs from high up in the mountains of the Kogelberg Reserve. A footpath along its bank takes hikers to beautiful spots upstream.
Back at the old wharf is where Kleinmond opens its arms to the tourist trade. The broad street leading down to the harbour is lined by curio and coffee shops, boutiques, a pottery, an art gallery, and several restaurants that offer excellent fish dishes. It is also where the town's tourist information centre is located. On its shelves are rows of pots with fynbos twigs and their names. The specimens are regularly replaced with fresh ones by civic-minded inhabitants who do it as their contribution to making visitors appreciate the floral wealth of the area.
The town's own rhythm fits with the ebb and flow of the seasons. In holiday time it is filled to the brim. People cram the beach, crowd the shops and restaurants, fill the streets and push past each other along the coastal trail.
I spent time there in the off-season, at the onset of winter when even on a relatively clear day a walk is best undertaken bearing a rain coat. The streets were quiet and the beach was deserted.
Most of the houses in the old section of town were shut, indicating they were holiday homes. A few of the many guest houses had their doors open, but there hardly seemed anybody around.
It is not as if there is not much else to do in Kleinmond in winter time than stroll its quiet streets and trails, and enjoy its restaurants. The region has a wealth of attractions. Not far to the east is the bustling town of Hermanus with its array of year-round attractions and tourist activities.
To the west are popular resorts such as Betty's Bay and Hangklip, and the magnificent Kogelberg Reserve. Close to the road, just across Palmietrivier, is the Harold Porter National Botanical Garden, a nature lover's delight.
Betty's Bay has the penguin boardwalk reserve where the cute little creatures can be seen up close.
If you're in a contemplative mood, you might just want to sit on one of the seaside benches and stare out to sea. If you are lucky, you might even spot a whale surface in the distance or dolphins surf the waves.