Vrede en Lust was founded in 1688 by a Flemish Merchant called Jacques de Savoye. The Governor of the Cape allocated this farm to De Savoye, who fled Europe with his wife, Marie-Madeleine le Clerq, due to religious persecution. After 70 days at sea, they arrived in Table Bay on 26 April 1688 on the 160ft Oosterland. The scene shifts to the Drakenstein, sparsely populated with only 23 Dutch freeburgers having settled there before. The valley is majestically beautiful, though quite rugged, with dense forests, game, lion and leopard, and the only human inhabitants, some nomadic Khoi. The pioneers lived in simple clay and reed homes.

This is where De Savoye became the owner of a magnificent piece of land against the foothills of the Napoleonsberg (today known as the Simonsberg). He called his farm Vrede en Lust (Peace and Delight/Eagerness), nurturing visions of a rural paradise where he could spend his last days. He immediately started improving the 55 Ha of land that starts at the Bergrivier valley floor and runs up the eastern foothills of the majestic Simonsberg Mountain.

Vrede en Lust was founded in 1688 by a Flemish Merchant called Jacques de Savoye. The Governor of the Cape allocated this farm to De Savoye, who fled Europe with his wife, Marie-Madeleine le Clerq, due to religious persecution. After 70 days at sea, they arrived in Table Bay on 26 April 1688 on the 160ft Oosterland. The scene shifts to the Drakenstein, sparsely populated with only 23 Dutch freeburgers having settled there before. The valley is majestically beautiful, though quite rugged, with dense forests, game, lion and leopard, and the only human inhabitants, some nomadic Khoi. The pioneers lived in simple clay and reed homes.

This is where De Savoye became the owner of a magnificent piece of land against the foothills of the Napoleonsberg (today known as the Simonsberg). He called his farm Vrede en Lust (Peace and Delight/Eagerness), nurturing visions of a rural paradise where he could spend his last days. He immediately started improving the 55 Ha of land that starts at the Bergrivier valley floor and runs up the eastern foothills of the majestic Simonsberg Mountain.