Franschhoek Visit [Part 2]

A lovely farmhouse, with resident horses enjoying the bright sunshine, on the outskirts of the picturesque village of Franschhoek.

Rather frustratingly, we have been experiencing intermittent internet outages, apparently due to an upgrade by our local telecommunications provider. I have, therefore, not been able to reliably access my email account or Blogger for the past few days. My husband has just called out to let me know we are "Back online!" [for now] and so I thought I'd use the chance to quickly upload the second installment of our trip to Franschhoek.  Without further ado, therefore, please join me on a pleasant amble through the older village, with its ever so quaint, cottage-style homes and very pretty gardens! This is a sampling of the many pictures both my husband and I took. I will allow them to speak for themselves in most instances and will only offer captions here and there.

 

Oops! I'm at it already...just can't seem to keep my mouth shut, can I? I thought the base of this huge tree looked very much like an elephant's foot!

And, this home was one of my favourites!

This gardener favoured cycads, aloes and succulents. The house was recently sold and still unoccupied, so I made the most of the opportunity to lean right over the front wall to snap a couple of pictures.

Deep shade surrounds this home, in time for the approaching months of summer.

This homeowner is twice blessed...not only does he/she possess a beautiful garden, magnificent vistas of the surrounding mountains are also added to the lucky packet!

A peek across a little steam that gently meanders through the village reveals a beautiful stone bench tucked beneath a leafy canopy on the other side. This private garden will be opened to the public for viewing at the end of the month.

Isn't the setting perfect? Reminds me of the Secret Garden!

I loved this little tin guinea fowl family perched so realistically on a branch of this gracious old tree.

The garden of this home is huge and one we have earmarked to visit at the end of October, when ten Franschhoek gardens will be opened to the public for viewing. I can't wait!

There are many gracious Guesthouses in Franschhoek. This is one of them.

If you're beginning to feel a little weary, you might enjoy a rest on this bench.

A stream meanders through the village, which itself is fed with 'leiwater' (water that is channelled to each of the houses to provide additional water for use in the gardens).

As you will have noticed, most of the older homes front directly on to the street, with only a narrow verge garden. The properties all seem to have large backyards.

Look what came out to greet us at the end of this cul de sac (or have they perhaps been trained to act as security guards?) They were not unfriendly, in fact they permitted me to take many pictures...but I did not try to get any closer to the impressive entrance to their home.

I did have fun snapping them...thankfully, none of them tried snapping at me with those rather impressive beaks.

This large property has been sold for development. We had fun photographing the old, existing buildings which will undergo restoration eventually. I'll show you the pictures we took of the old house and sheds another time.

For now, I want to concentrate on the pretty homes and gardens that give Franschhoek its beauty.

This old gateway had to be accessed by ducking low under the large, low overhanging trees on either side of the stepping stones leading up to it from the street. A little bird was serenading sweetly in the branches up above and, for just a moment, I imagined I'd stepped into an entirely different world.

Beyond the gate, pictured above, this secluded pathway leading to the unseen house beckoned me further, but I had to decline as then I would have been trespassing.

Franschhoek is a veritable feast of floriferous beauty at this time of the year. My eye is always instantly drawn to blue flowers, such as this gorgeous bearded iris.

This is actually a teeny-weeny peek at the absolutely wonderful restaurant where we had lunch. I am saving this treat for another day, since the whole setting begged to be photographed. Believe me, we took plenty!

For now, shall we continue our stroll down the streets of the village?

Oh, good! So glad you've opted to stay on a while longer...

There really is so much to take in, it's difficult to know what to leave out!

By now, you will have noticed that the many of the older homes are painted bright white. This is a characteristic of the period in which these homes were constructed.

Any introduced colour is generally added to the trims...

And the occasional wall will be painted in pastel shades of pink, blue or green.

The garden on this verge was a blaze of pink, white and mauve, reflecting the pink of the verandah walls most effectively.

This house had touches of grey-blue. The garden was so pretty, but as the owners were home, I wasn't able to brazenly lean over the wall to take pictures, as I sometimes do when I can see no one is home.

Oops! And there you've caught me at it! Leaning over someone's wall to take pictures.

This is just one of the pictures I took while 'leaning over the garden wall!'

This is the old watermill, La Cotte. It is a restored historic monument and may not be altered, externally, in any way.

Isn't it pretty?

I could SO live here!!!

This is a newer home, but I thought it deserved a picture.

This concludes today's post. Next up, I'll show you around the shops and take you to lunch at the restaurant we peeked at earlier. You'll get to meet Hendrik, a beautiful rooster. Bring your wallets to the shops, if you'd like to buy a few South African arts and crafts.