…it was a church.

Oude Werf is the oldest continuously operating hotel in South Africa, on the site of the first church in Stellenbosch, built in 1687 and destroyed by fire in 1710.

On this ‘old churchyard’ would rise the Cape Dutch-style Wium’s Inn, the two-storey Arcadia and, in the 20th Century, after much rebuilding, Oude Werf Hotel, today owned by the Petousis family and run by its 65-strong team. Since 1802 it has welcomed guests from statesmen and artists to explorers, the university’s first female graduates and even the odd ghost.