Monday saw us travelling from Cape Town, via Durbanville, to Wellington and the beautiful Paarl Valley.
Durbanville is a busy and bustling centre.
After leaving Durbanville we passed many vineyards and olive groves.
Many of the farms in this area dates back to 1692 when freehold land was given to farmers.
In among the vineyards are fields of wheat.
Olive groves near Wellington.
We reached the historic town of Wellington which was founded in 1837. This town marked the limit of the settler expansion from the Cape and was first called ‘Limiet Vallei’. This area was also known as Val Du Charron or ‘Valley of the Wagonmaker ‘ from the early 17th century when the French Hugenots settled there. It was later named after the Duke of Wellington.
The historic buildings have been beautifully preserved. The Huguenot Seminary, the first teachers’ training college, founded by the Rev Andrew Murray, is found in Wellington.
We left Wellington and travelled into the valley below Bainskloof and Paarl.
We were on our way to a wine farm called Doolhof.
We reached our destination.
Doolhof has wine tasting every day of the week.
Beautiful cannas greeted us.
We left the gardens and went into the historic wine cellar.
Inside we were treated to a selection of their best wines.
We bought a selection of wine.
Doolhof has won many awards for their wine.
We stopped to admire the hydrangeas before leaving the lovely wine farm.
We briefly stopped at Welvanpas, the birthplace of Piet Retief, the famous Voortrekker leader.
This is where Retief was born.
The Retief family still owns and works on the farm.
We admired the detail on this Bridge next to the Retief farm.
We travelled back towards Wellington to visit another wine estate.
Clouds were building over the Hottetot Holland Mountains in the distance.
We reached the wine farm of Under Oaks.
We were greeted by the local herd.
Old wine vats on display.
Unfortunately the cellar and restaurant were closed on Mondays.
We travelled further into the valley to The Spice Route.
There we had lunch under the trees and visited the artisan chocolate factory.
The chocolates are handmade in the small factory.
There are many different types of chocolate on display.
The are many flavours of drinking chocolate to choose from.
We also visited the brewery where they make craft beer.
