The Company’s garden has been supplying food, on and off, to the residents of Cape Town since 1650. The first Europeans arrived in Cape Town to grow food and fresh produce to restock the Dutch East India Company’s ships on their way to the East and Australasia. Feeding the settlers themselves was also on the menu, so to speak. Today, the Garden itself has been greatly reduced and is now more of a pleasure garden than a vegetable and fruit farm. Still in the heart of the city, the tasty meals and tea-time treats are now supplied by a neat restaurant called The Company’s Garden. Perhaps, as mothers are traditionally the ones who cook meals and provide sustenance for their families, the Garden was where Cape Town’s nickname, The Mother City, originally came from.

Built for children, families, office workers, and visitors alike, this is both an iconic and historic space, inspired by nature and by tales rooted in the past. And speaking of rooted, it’s not hard to imagine people in 1650 costume wandering the lanes and meeting under some of the oldest trees in the country. The 400-year-old pear tree is still fruiting!

As part of the city’s revitalisation project, the Garden holds pride of place for many Capetonians. Here not only is there excellent food, indoor and outdoor seating, but there is also a large chess board, large structures reminiscent of weaver bird nests, art, and squirrels with an appetite for whatever’s on your plate! Cape Town is a buzzing metropolis, but here at its heart is a peaceful enclave surrounded by historic buildings.