Somerset West, Western Cape Province, South Africa

🇿🇦 Somerset West (Somerset-Wes) is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa. Organisationally and administratively it is included in the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality as a suburb of the Helderberg region (formerly called Hottentots Holland). The vehicle registration code for Somerset West is CFM and the post code is 7130 for street addresses, and 7129 for post office boxes.

History A cattle post was established here by Dutch soldiers in 1672. A town developed around the Lourens River (originally "Tweederivier", which means "Second River"; "Eersterivier", meaning "First River" passes through Stellenbosch, some 16 km (9.9 mi) to the north) and the farm of Vergelegen (Dutch: "remotely situated"), an 18th-century farmhouse built in the historic Cape Dutch style by Willem Adriaan van der Stel, governor of the Cape and son of Simon van der Stel, who gave his name to the nearby town of Stellenbosch. Willem Adriaan was later sent back to Holland after being charged with corruption and cruelty towards local Dutch farmers. The farm is now owned by a subsidiary of the large mining company Anglo American, who have restored the farmhouse to its original magnificence and continue to produce some of South Africa's best wines there. The farm is open to tourists.

Somerset West was founded in 1822 on part of the historic farm, Vergelegen. The town was named Somerset after a British governor of the Cape Colony during the 1800s, Lord Charles Henry Somerset, with the suffix 'West' being added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset East, another South African town in the Eastern Cape. In the 1830s, Sir Lowry's Pass, named after later governor Sir Lowry Cole, was constructed to link the town with outposts further east over the Hottentots-Holland mountains.

In the 1960s, the AECI factory between Somerset West and Strand was the second largest dynamite factory in the world.

Geography Somerset West is located on the N2 about 45 km (30 mi) east of Cape Town and 20 km (10 mi) km south of Stellenbosch. The town borders Strand and Gordon's Bay and is overlooked by the Helderberg Mountain (meaning "clear mountain"), a part of the Hottentots-Holland range of mountains.

Suburbs Somerset West includes more than 65 suburbs covering a large area of 61.37 square km within its administrative boundaries, extending from the satellite areas of Firgrove to the west and Sir Lowry's Pass Village to the east. It includes the following suburbs: • Audas Estate • Boskloof Eco Estate • Bridgewater • Briza • Dennegeur • Die Wingerd • Erinvale • Fernwood • Garden Village • Golden Acre • Golden Hill • Helderberg Estate • Helderrand • Heldervue • Helderzicht • Helena Heights • Jacques Hill • La Concorde • La Sandra • Land en Zeezicht • Montclair • Monte Sereno • Morningside • Parel Vallei • Rome Glen • Roundhay • Somerset Ridge • Spanish Farm • Steynsrust • The Links • Westridge • World's View • Olive Grove.

Economy: Retail Owing to its regional status and central location, Somerset West has become the major retail hub for the Helderberg, Stellenbosch and the Overberg regions. Somerset Mall, situated alongside the N2 freeway serves as the largest shopping centre in the Helderberg region. A number of other local retail shopping centres can be found in the town's suburban areas such as Helderberg Mall, Somerset Value Centre, The Sanctuary, Waterstone Village Shopping Centre, Vergelegen Plein and Sitari Village Mall.

Economy: Tourist Industry Somerset West offers several tourist attractions due to its position on the Hottentots-Holland mountains and between the Cape Winelands and the nearby beaches of Strand and Gordon's Bay.

Wine Somerset West forms part of the Helderberg Wine Region which is a wine-producing sub-region of the greater Stellenbosch Wine Region. Helderberg includes wine estates such as include 96 Winery, Alto, Audacia, Annandale, Cavalli, Ernie Els, Grangehurst, Guardian Peak, Haskell, Hidden Valley, Idiom, Ken Forrester, Klein Welmoed, Le Riche, Longridge, Lourensford, Lyngrove, Miravel, Morgenster, Peter Falke, Post House, Somerbosch, Uva Mira, Vergelegen, Vergenoegd and Waterkloof.

The most popular and nearest wine estates amongst the many surrounding Somerset West are Vergelegen and Lourensford. The Vergelegen Wine Estate lies on the border of Somerset West, spanning into the Hottentots Holland Nature Reserve. The buildings on the estate constitute fine examples of Cape Dutch architecture.

The Lourensford Wine Estate which neighbours the Vergelegen Wine Estate features the Lourensford Market and a Sports car museum known as MOTOR Studio.

Festivals Every December, the town has a display of Christmas lights erected atop the street lights of the Main Road. The Helderberg Lights Festival (aka the Strawberry Festival), a flea market and parade, normally complements these lights.

Nature The Helderberg Nature Reserve, a 363 hectare natural wildlife preserve opened in 1964, contains a wide variety of smaller fauna (small antelope, tortoises and other reptiles) and indigenous flora such as Protea and fynbos.

Guest Houses & B&Bs In recent years many guest houses and B&Bs have opened up in Somerset West, since it is conveniently located for Cape Town (45 km (28 mi) away on the N2 motorway), the beaches at the Strand and Gordon's Bay, and the Western Cape's numerous wine farms.

Growth In recent years, there has been a population boom in Somerset West with various secure or gated estates such as Sitari Country Estate, Croydon Vineyard and Olive Estates and Kelderhof Country Village being built on previously undeveloped land west of the town, gradually closing the little break isolating Somerset West from the rest of the metropolitan area. Paardevlei, south of the town, is an emerging mixed-use development comprising gated residential complexes and the Busamed Paardevlei Private Hospital.

Education The town has a range of primary and secondary educational facilities.

Primary schools • Somerset West Primary School • Somerset House • Somerset College • Somerset West Private School • Helderberg Primary School • De Hoop Primary • Beaumont Primary • International School of Helderberg • Danie Ackerman Primary School • Reddam House Somerset • Newberry Montessori School • Curro Primary School; High schools • Hottentots Holland High School • Parel Vallei High School • Somerset College • Somerset West Private School • Helderberg High School • International School of Helderberg • Gordon High School • Reddam House Somerset • The Mayor Matthews Institution for Excellence • Christian Kotzé.

Education: University • Helderberg College of Higher Education.

Transport: Rail Somerset West lies on the Strand Line (a branch line of the Northern Line), connecting its two railway stations: Somerset West and Van der Stel. The Strand service operated by Metrorail runs westwards to Cape Town (via Kuilsrivier and Bellville) and eastwards to Strand.

Transport: Road The N2 is the main route through Somerset West connecting Cape Town with Grabouw and George. The N2 W (in the direction of Cape Town) from the R102 on the outskirts of the town runs as a dual-carriage freeway while the N2 E (in the direction of George) runs as an at-grade road. Running north-west to Kuilsrivier, the R102 (Strand Road) is an older section of the N2 and the old main road between Cape Town and Somerset West. The R44 (Broadway Boulevard) connects to Stellenbosch in the north and Kleinmond in the south-east (via Strand and Gordon's Bay).

The town is also intersected by four metropolitan routes connecting it to surrounding suburbs such as the M9 (Main Road; Sir Lowry's Pass Village Road) connecting to Macassar in the west and Sir Lowry's Pass Village in the east, the M149 (Victoria Street) connecting to Strand, the M153 (Main Road) connecting to Strand and the M156 (Irene Avenue; Steynsrust Road) connecting to Firgrove.