Franschhoek | |
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Clockwise from top: Franschhoek Pass, the Huguenot Monument, Huguenot Museum, Bastille Festival, Boschendal Estate, Dutch Reformed Church, Franschhoek | |
Motto(s): Dieu Est Mon Aide (French: God is My Helper) | |
Coordinates: 33°55′S19°08′E / 33.917°S 19.133°E | |
Country | ![]() |
Province | ![]() |
District | Cape Winelands |
Municipality | Stellenbosch |
First Settled | 1688 |
Government | |
• Councillor | Reginald Pheiffer (DA) [1] |
Area | |
• Total | 1.8 km2 (0.7 sq mi) |
Population | |
• Total | 1,066 |
• Density | 590/km2 (1,500/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• White | 76.8% |
• Black African | 15.5% |
• Coloured | 6.2% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.5% |
• Other | 1.0% |
First languages (2011) | |
• English | 44.1% |
• Afrikaans | 43.8% |
• Xhosa | 1.6% |
• Sotho | 0.5% |
• Other | 10.0% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 7690 |
PO box | 7690 |
Area code | 021 |
Franschhoek ( [fransˈɦuk] ; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 Fransche Hoek, French: Le Coin Français) is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It was formerly known as Oliphants hoek (as there were vast groups of elephants roaming the valley). It is situated about 75 kilometres (47 mi) from Cape Town, a 45-minute drive away. The whole area, including townships such as Groendal and suburbs such as Wemmershoek, has a population of slightly over 20,000 people while the town proper, known as Hugenote, [4] has a population of around 1,000. Since 2000, it has been incorporated into Stellenbosch Municipality. In 2022, Franschhoek was mentioned in Time magazine as one of the top 50 places in the world to visit.
Franschhoek's original inhabitants are the Khoisan peoples. They are now mostly extinct, but their descendants continue to live in the area as mixed race (Khoisan and French/Dutch) people. In 1685, King Louis XIV banned Protestantism in France. Hundreds of French Huguenots were forced to flee their country. In 1688, almost 300 French Huguenots arrived at the Cape of Good Hope by ship and were given the Franschhoek Valley to settle.[ citation needed ]
The French Huguenot refugees populated the valley, establishing farms and businesses, bringing with them their French culture and experience in agriculture. The name of the area soon changed to le Coin Français ("the French Corner"), and later to Franschhoek (Dutch for "French Corner"), with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas they had left behind in France. [5] La Motte, Champagne, La Cotte, Cabrière, La Provence, Bourgogne, La Terra de Luc and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original Cape Dutch farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned wineries. Many of the surnames in the area are of French origin, e.g. Du Toit, Marais, Du Plessis, Malan, Malherbe, and Joubert. The French settlers tried fiercely to hold onto their language, but were forced over generations by the Dutch and British colonialists through schooling to integrate into local society.[ citation needed ]
This heritage is shown today by the Huguenot Monument which stands at the end of the town. The nearby Huguenot Memorial Museum adjacent to the monument explores the history of the French Huguenots who settled in the Cape, and especially in the Franschhoek Valley. On exhibition are the various tools they used to make wine, the clothes they wore, and interpretation of their culture and goals.
The Cape Dutch architecture in much of the village is unspoiled, as restrictions have been placed on the extent of renovations and new construction in order to preserve the spirit of the original French settlers to the area.
In 1904, a 28 km (17 mi) branch line was built between Paarl and Franschhoek to serve as an alternative to ox-drawn carts for farmers wanting to get their produce to market. Steam locomotives operated along the route until diesel locomotives took over in the 1970s and then, in the 1990s, as the need for rail transport decreased, service along the railway line was discontinued. The branch line was reinstated in 2012 [6] [7] by a private operator and now sees service as the Franschhoek Wine Tram, [8] [9] a tourism project utilizing newly constructed double-decker trams modeled after the Blackpool Corporation Tramway's Double Deck Balcony Tramcar of circa 1923 to transport tourists between wine estates in the area.
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Once a quiet country retreat, the originally French settled village and region began experiencing a boom in the 1990s, and property prices increased. The ideal summer weather, snowy peaks in winter and proximity to Cape Town have turned Franschhoek (le coin Français) into one of South Africa's most sought after residential addresses. The construction of the new English-medium private Bridge House School outside the village has also attracted many urban dwellers to the village.[ citation needed ]
Franschhoek is notable for having some of the top restaurants in the country within its borders. This fact, together with the strong wine culture, and pristine natural and architectural beauty has made Franschhoek into what many describe as the "food and wine capital" of South Africa. This village hosted one of the top 50 restaurants in the world The Tasting Room, according to the "S.Pellegrino world's 50 best restaurants"-ranking and a famous Belgian Pâtisserie for Belgian pralines.[ citation needed ] The town hosts a number of notable restaurants and wineries such as Haute Cabrière.
The attributes of the village have turned Franschhoek into a popular tourist destination, with dozens of bed & breakfasts and small cottages available for accommodation.
The shopping experience in Franschhoek is known to be very interesting with several independent boutiques, menswear shops and quality homeware stores. The art galleries are plentiful and excellent.
Franschhoek's weekend Bastille Festival has been celebrated every July since 1994, the year of the first South African general election with universal adult suffrage marking the end of the apartheid era. [10] [11]
Franschhoek is a twin town or sister city of:
Paarl is a city with 285,574 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni township, it is now a de facto urban unit with Wellington. It is situated about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of Cape Town in the Western Cape Province and is known for its scenic environment and viticulture and fruit-growing heritage.
Stellenbosch is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, situated about 50 kilometres east of Cape Town, along the banks of the Eerste River at the foot of the Stellenbosch Mountain. The town became known as the City of Oaks or Eikestad in Afrikaans and Dutch due to the large number of oak trees that were planted by its founder, Simon van der Stel, to grace the streets and homesteads.
The Trekboers were nomadic pastoralists descended from European colonists on the frontiers of the Dutch Cape Colony in Southern Africa. The Trekboers began migrating into the interior from the areas surrounding what is now Cape Town, such as Paarl, Stellenbosch, and Franschhoek, during the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century.
Stellenbosch Municipality is the local municipality that governs the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Pniel, and the surrounding rural areas, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It covers an area of 831 square kilometres (321 sq mi), and as of 2022 had a population of 175,411 people. It falls within the Cape Winelands District Municipality.
Drakenstein Municipality is a local municipality located within the Cape Winelands District Municipality, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 251,262. Its municipality code is WC023.
The Cape Winelands District Municipality, formerly the Boland District Municipality, is a district municipality located in the Boland region of the Western Cape province of South Africa. As of 2011, it had a population of 787,490. The largest towns in the municipality are Paarl, Worcester, Stellenbosch and Wellington.
South African cuisine reflects the diverse range of culinary traditions embodied by the various communities that inhabit the country. Among the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the Khoisan foraged over 300 species of edible food plants, such as the rooibos shrub legume, whose culinary value continues to exert a salient influence on South African cuisine. Subsequent encounters with Bantu pastoralists facilitated the emergence of cultivated crops and domestic cattle, which supplemented traditional Khoisan techniques of meat preservation. In addition, Bantu-speaking communities forged an extensive repertoire of culinary ingredients and dishes, many of which are still consumed today in traditional settlements and urban entrepôts alike.
Boschendal is one of the oldest wine estates in South Africa and is located between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch in South Africa's Western Cape.
Durbanville, previously called Pampoenkraal, is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, part of the greater Cape Town metropolitan area. It is a semi-rural residential suburb on the north-eastern outskirts of the metropolis surrounded by farms producing wine and wheat.
Wellington is a town in the Western Cape Winelands, a 45-minute drive from Cape Town, in South Africa with a population of approximately 62,000. Wellington's economy is centered on agriculture such as wine, table grapes, deciduous fruit, and a brandy industry. The town is located 75 km north-east of Cape Town, reached by the N1 motorway and R44. Due to the growth of the Vlakkeland and Mbekweni township south of the town, it now forms a de facto urban unit with Paarl, just 10 km to the south. Wellington now officially falls under the Drakenstein Local Municipality, which also covers Saron and Paarl.
Elgin is a large, lush area of land, circled by mountains, in the Overberg region of South Africa. This broad upland valley lies about 70 km southeast of Cape Town, just beyond the Hottentots Holland Mountains.
Many people of European heritage in South Africa are descended from Huguenots. Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony, but were absorbed into the Afrikaner and Afrikaans-speaking population, because they had religious similarities to the Dutch colonists.
Grabouw is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa.Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 highway. The town is the commercial centre for the vast Elgin Valley, the largest single export fruit-producing area in Southern Africa, which extends between the Hottentots-Holland, Kogelberg, Groenland, and Houwhoek Mountains. The town's population has grown rapidly, with 44 593 people in 2019 from 21 593 as listed by the 2001 census.
Western Cape is a Geographical Unit within the Wine of Origin classification system of South African wine. Corresponding to the province of Western Cape it includes most of the vineyards in South Africa.
Haute Cabrière is a South African vineyard estate located in Franschhoek, Cape Winelands. The estate was started over 300 years ago by Huguenot settlers from France, including Pierre Jourdan, and primarily grows Chardonnay and Pinot noir varietals. The current iteration dates to the 1980s when it was established by the Von Arnim family and the wine cellar and restaurant were remodeled in 2019.
Klapmuts is the name of both a hill, and a town which formed at its foot. They are located in Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
Coetsenburg is an historic wine estate and one of the oldest estates in South Africa, established in 1682. It is located at the foot of the Stellenbosch Mountain, which forms part of the estate, in the town of Stellenbosch, 31 miles (50 km) east of Cape Town, in the Cape Winelands of the Western Cape Province. The estate has historically been owned by the Coetsee family and is currently not open to the public. The north-western portion of the original estate is now the Coetsenburg Sports Grounds which belongs to the University of Stellenbosch.
Free Burghers were early European colonists in the 18th century who had been released of their service contracts to the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and had become full citizens (burghers). The introduction of Free Burghers to the Dutch Cape Colony is regarded as the beginning of a permanent settlement of Europeans in South Africa. The Free Burgher population eventually devolved into two distinct segments separated by social status, wealth, and education: the Cape Dutch and the Boers.
Val de Vie Estate is a residential estate occupying 917 hectares situated between Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands of South Africa.
This time around, the annual get-together celebrates its 21st birthday