Rickety Bridge – effluent treatment near Padel courts

The estate is named “Rickety Bridge” because of the original wooden railway-sleeper bridge that once crossed the Franschhoek River to access the farm. Although that bridge was replaced in 1996 for safety, the name lives on. The land that now makes up Rickety Bridge was granted in 1797 to Paulina de Villiers — making her one of the first female land-owners in South Africa

When the French Protestant refugees (the Huguenots) were granted farms in what is now Franschhoek in 1694, they settled in a valley that was previously known by its Dutch name **Olifantshoek** (“Elephant Corner”) because it was once a seasonal breeding ground for wild elephants. So — not only did these early French-farmers bring wine-making and their culture to the Cape, but they also took up land where elephants once roamed!