Strings of onions, herbs and salted fish hang from the rafters of the Schreuderhuis, a charming whitewashed thatched cottage, c.1709.

Simple furniture in candlelit rooms, open hearths, surrounded by tools, churns and cooking pots, all evoke a picture of life in early 18th century Stellenbosch, perhaps South Africa’s prettiest town, founded in 1679 by Governor Simon van der Stel.

This is the first stop, the oldest house, in the Stellenbosch Village Museum’s trail, its aim to preserve articles of local historical interest in the houses of the period.

Outside the kitchen garden surrounds the house – fruit, vegetables and herbs,for culinary and medicinal use, would have grown here side by side.

The Schreuderhuis is the first of four houses on this historic Trail, each one progressing in opulence and complexity as we reach the 20th century.

Model of the houses on the Trail

Many of the exhibits have been donated by local residents.

A little glimpse of life for these early Dutch pioneers of the Cape colony.