Franschhoek

The final stop of our trip was in a town called Franschhoek, which translates to “French Corner” from Afrikaans. Franschhoek was settled by Europeans starting in 1688 with the Huguenots who were fleeing religious persecution in France.

Today Franschhoek is the center of the South African wine industry, with wine estates dotting the valley. If you’ve enjoyed wine from South Africa chances are very high that it came from a winery within 50 miles of Franschhoek.

The area retains its’ French influence through streetnames and French restaurants that are among the best in South Africa. We visited a few wineries in the area, and although we visited past the season they were still beautiful.

Most of the wineries also had fruit orchards of pear or plum trees. Some also had olive orchards.

We were fortunate enough to stay at a wine estate called La Cle des Montagnes. We stayed in an 1820 farmhouse located on the estate. It was pretty incredible.

The farmhouse had three guest rooms, a common living room, common dining room, and a kitchen where the staff prepares breakfast. We had the whole place to ourselves during our stay.

This was the patio on the back side of the farmhouse where we enjoyed a bottle of the house chardonnay each evening. The light in this picture is very real.

Truly a beautiful property. If you find yourself in Franschhoek, try to stay at La Cle.