Woodstock, City Bowl

Woodstock’s dilapidated charm is what has made it such a good contingent for the inner-city revival that has recently taken the suburb by storm - incredibly, about a hundred years ago, this colourful community was once a farming village called Papendorp.

Set on the slopes of Devils Peak, with fantastic views out over the harbour, Woodstock is, as many suburbs in Cape Town, divided into two by Main Road - upper Woodstock with its larger, graceful and carefully restored Victorian semi-detached homes, reminiscent of Observatory a little further along Main Road - and Woodstock proper, which managed to survive the trauma of the Group Areas Act to become a mixed-race suburb associated with crime, litter and dilapidated drug houses. This image has drastically changed and an urban renewal has seen a number of warehouses and Victorian cottages converted into trendy character spaces to encourage commercial investors such as the Neighbour Goods Market in the refurbished Old Biscuit Mill - an extremely popular Saturday morning meeting place, where buying local food has taken on new meaning.

Young professionals are snapping up Victorian semis and taking advantage of these still affordable homes. Add to this a couple of neighbourhood restaurants and cafés and Woodstock’s acquired village atmosphere makes it a suburb to be reckoned with. Staying in Woodstock gives the visitor a real sense of inner-city living, whilst positioning one close to the city centre, bustling Long Street, the museums, galleries, trendy Kloof Street and the V&A Waterfront. Table Mountain looms in the background and one has a sense of the city as it really is.