Boschendal Manor

Boschendal was granted to a Huguenot settler in 1685 and the present manor house dates from 1812 - a textbook Cape Dutch H-plan with a curved gable, yellowwood floors and small-paned windows, furnished as a period museum with Cape furniture and porcelain. The farm passed through the De Villiers family, then Cecil Rhodes bought it in the 1890s as part of a fruit-growing venture, and it spent much of the twentieth century under corporate ownership before being sold in 2003 to a consortium; there was a period when subdivision for housing was on the table. It now runs as a working farm with restaurants, a farm shop, wine tasting, orchards and cattle, with a stated regenerative-agriculture programme. The setting is the Drakenstein mountains on three sides, and the oak avenue leading to the manor is one of the most photographed in the winelands.

What you actually see

• The 1812 manor - a Cape Dutch H-plan house furnished as a period museum.
• The 1685 grant - a farm worked continuously since the Huguenot settlement.
• The Rhodes chapter - bought in the 1890s for a fruit-growing venture.
• The working farm - orchards, cattle and a regenerative agriculture programme.

When to go

September to April. Half a day. Weekends fill the restaurants and picnic lawns.

Honest expectations

It is a commercial estate: nearly everything beyond walking the grounds costs money, and the picnics and restaurants book out. The manor museum keeps limited hours. Crowds are heavy in season. Prices sit at the upper end of the winelands.

Nearby

Franschhoek is east; Stellenbosch is west along the same road.