The Cape Winelands Tour

When you're there: Franschhoek. ‘French Corner’ in Afrikaans. There, surrounded by mountains, is one of South Africa’s oldest towns. It’s a valley of wine farms and Cape Dutch homes and is packed with French heritage. 400 years ago the Huguenots arrived, clutching their wine making manuals. Now it’s the centre of the country’s wine production. And most farms are still named after the towns the settlers came from - Chamonix, La Motte, Provence. All in all, it’s an excellent start for this tour. Plus, despite being tiny, it’s regularly described as one of the world’s gastronomic capitals. Hungry? Go get yourself sorted. You’ll be staying at Ashbourne House in the middle of town.

Refreshed? Ok. So if you need to walk it off there are lots of trails around the Drakenstein and Wemmershoek mountains. They circle the town so you can’t exactly miss them.

And now you basically have the difficult task of deciding which of the many wine estates you’re going to visit. As well as Franschhoek you could explore Stellenbosch and Paarl. Taste the wine, explore a cellar, book a picnic on the lawn.