Based on the report brought to them by shipwreck survivors, the Dutch East India Company realized they had found the perfect refueling spot for their ships sailing to the East and Australia. After months at sea, ships could stop here and stock up on fresh produce grown in what would become Cape Town. Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay on the 6th April 1652. One of the first things he planted was a saffron pear tree. It still exists today, propped up on huge steel crutches. In 1662, the Company’s Garden was just over 18 hectares in size. Apart from vegetables ad fruit, there were herbs and medicinal plants, various ornamental plants including roses, pine trees and Cape Town’s now famous oaks. In 1679, there was also an elaborate system of canals and water furrows.

Over time, the Garden was reduced to the 3.2-heactares which remains today. By 1913, the Company's Garden had evolved into a public pleasure park. The Garden was proclaimed a National Monument in 1962, it is also a Provincial Heritage Site.

Other star floral attractions include the ginkgo tree with no living relatives, the towering rubber tree, the 80-year-old bamboo plantation. The fountains, fishponds, and tree lined walkways shielding the area from the bustle of the city, make the Company’s Garden Cape Town’s green lung. Its function as a place of peace and leisure has increased as the surrounding city has grown. Buskers strum guitars while office workers enjoy the lunchtime sun and squirrels, among a variety of other fauna, frolic and tease people for food. 

Within walking distance are monuments and buildings worth seeing for their history or art. For example, the WWI Dellville Wood Memorial Garden, The Slave Lodge, the South African Parliament and Tuynhuys. Across the street is St George’s Cathedral, known as the ‘people’s church’ as all races have always been welcome, even during the apartheid era. The South African Museum is nearby, as is the Cape Town Holocaust Centre along with South Africa’s oldest synagogue. The South African National Gallery houses an impressive permanent collection of South African, African, British, French, Dutch and Flemish art including contemporary photography, African beadwork and colonial paintings. Contemporary works like Judith Butler’s The Butcher Boys make this gallery worth visiting.

The Company’s Garden Restaurant is a big hit with locals. With a huge outdoor seating area, interspersed with human-sized weaverbird nests to clamber in, or simply sitting in the dappled shade, you can enjoy simple but delicious food. Among the reeds and beneath the large trees, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in the country.