De Doorns is situated in the Breede Valley Local Municipality , Cape Winelands District Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa .
6-514: It lies in the Hex River Valley on the N1 national route , 32 km north-east of Worcester and 40 km south-west of Touwsrivier . It is in the centre of an export grape growing region, surrounded by over 200 table grape farms. The town takes its name from the farm "De Doorns boven aan de Hex Rivier" (‘the thorns on the upper Hex River’), known as early as 1725. The area was declared
12-533: A large anticline in the Cape Fold Belt mountain system and form a north-east, south-west trending mountain system forming the core of the Cape Syntaxis between the towns of Worcester and De Doorns . They are mostly composed of Table Mountain sandstone and most peaks reach 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) in height or more. The highest mountain is Matroosberg at 2,249 metres (7,379 feet), making it
18-452: A sub-drosty of Tulbagh in 1819 and the farm became the seat of the area's own drostdy in 1822. The De Doorns farm was bought by the government of Cape Prime Minister John Molteno in 1875, to build a railway station for the rapidly expanding Cape Government Railways . The line was immediately built through De Doorns, connecting it to Cape Town on the coast and reaching Montagu Road (later Touws River) in 1877, on its way to Kimberley. Around
24-645: The second tallest peak in the province after Seweweekspoort Peak in the Swartberg Mountain Range. The vegetation is primarily montane fynbos and the mountains fall within the Cape's Mediterranean climate . The mountains provide some rudimentary snow-skiing opportunities in winter, with the Western Cape's heaviest snowfalls occurring in and around these ranges. The surrounding valleys support intensive deciduous fruit cultivation, mostly in
30-439: The station, the hamlet of De Doorns would later develop. The area around the town became an important region for table grape farming. It had the necessary infrastructure for exporting its produce, and the longest harvest season in the world - December to April. During the second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the town and its railway infrastructure played an important supporting role. The stone blockhouses which were built to protect
36-488: The vital railway link are still found in the valley. A village management board was instituted for De Doorns in 1933 and municipal status attained in 1951. Hex River Valley The Hex River Mountains ( Afrikaans : Hexrivierberge ) make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa and are located 120 kilometres (75 miles) north-east of Cape Town . They form part of
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