Babylonstoren

Babylonstoren is a Cape Dutch farm dating to 1692 that was restored from 2007 and opened with a garden laid out on the model of the Company's Garden that supplied ships at the Cape - meaning every bed is productive rather than ornamental. The garden, designed by Patrice Taravella and planted with more than three hundred varieties of trees, holds fruit, vegetables, herbs, bees, ducks, a prickly-pear maze and a clivia-planted shade tunnel, organised in fifteen or so sections connected by axial paths, with the mountains of the Simonsberg behind. It is genuinely a working supply garden: what grows here goes to the restaurant, which is the point of the arrangement and stops it being decorative. There is also a winery and tasting room, a bakery, a farm shop and a spa, and the whitewashed werf buildings around the yard are as good an example of the Cape Dutch form as any that is open to the public.

Highlights

• The productive garden - fruit, vegetables and herbs, not flowerbeds.
• The werf - whitewashed Cape Dutch farm buildings around a yard, from 1692.
• The supply line - garden produce going directly to the restaurant.
• The Simonsberg backdrop - mountains standing behind the vineyards.

When to go

September to April when the garden is fullest. Half a day. Early morning is coolest and quietest.

What to expect

Entry, food and tastings are all priced high and booking is often required weeks ahead. The garden is exposed and summer midday is punishing. It is very busy at weekends. Restaurant reservations are separate and hard to get.

Nearby

Paarl and its rock are north; Franschhoek is south-east.

Key facts