A signature garden

A live painting couldn't be this pretty! Majestically unveiled, this gorgeous traditional garden has been thoughtfully planted to create living rooms brimming with colour and texture.

- Connall Oosterbroek

Nestled between the Franschhoek and N Wemmershoek mountains lies a gem of a garden so striking, that it manages to shine brightly despite being surrounded by spectacular scenery on all sides.

The La Cotte Farm dates back to 1698 when it was one of the eleven original farms ceded to the Huguenots and over the intervening years has had many owners. By the beginning of the century, when the current owners purchased it had sadly fallen into disrepair. "La Cotte was a wonderfully dilapidated, derelict homestead that had stood empty and unloved for at least 20 years," reminisces landscape and interior designer Dominic Touwen. "It was a perfect time capsule with face brick stoep pillars, Flintstone's fireplaces, Rocky Horror garden walls and a kidney-shaped fibreglass pool.

But underneath this dodgy facade lay a sleeping beauty; a delightfully simple, modest Cape Dutch manor house dating back to the late 18th century, along with its own barns and Langhuis (long house). Better yet, they were all shaded by a grove of ancient gnarled oak trees and overlooked the iconic Franschhoek Valley. So special are the views from the property that old master Hugo Naudé chose to paint the view from the manor house on more than one occasion.