Fresnaye is one of Cape Town’s most affluent suburbs, situated between Signal Hill and Sea Point, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town’s Central Business District
Fresnaye was originally an estate of 200 acres (81 ha), acquired in the early 1800s, and belonging to Ryk Le Sueur, a barrister, and French aristocrat from Bayeux in Normandy and descendant of the French Huguenots. The original name was Winterslust, and the farmhouse was at that time, the only building on the mountain slopes, other than Heeren Huis near Bantry Bay, built in 1776. Fresnaye was set in vineyards and orchards, and referred to as “A Garden of Eden” at the time.
The suburbs street names reflect its French heritage to this day.