Ficksburg and the Cherry Route

The Centre Of South Africa'S Cherry And Asparagus Growing, Where Almost The Whole National Cherry Crop Comes Off A Handful Of Eastern Free State Farms With A Cherry Festival Each November That Is The Oldest Crop Festival In The Country, Sandstone Streets, And The Busiest Road Border Into Lesotho A Kilometre Away · Ficksburg, Free State

Almost every cherry grown in South Africa comes off a handful of farms in the eastern Free State, and most of those are around Ficksburg. The reason is the cold: cherries need a proper winter chill to set fruit, and the sandstone country along the Lesotho border sits high enough and gets cold enough to deliver it, which almost nowhere else in the country does. The crop comes in during November and December, the Cherry Festival in November is the oldest crop festival in South Africa, and for a few weeks a quiet border town has cherry stalls, orchard tours, asparagus and a great many visitors. The rest of the year it is a sandstone Free State town with a Lesotho border post a kilometre away - the busiest road crossing into the country - and a view of the Maluti mountains. This row is honest about which of those two towns you will arrive in, because the difference between them is about six weeks wide.

On the Lesotho border in the eastern Free State sandstone country, at the Maputsoe bridge, Ficksburg, Free State, South Africa

A working farm town. THE CHERRY SEASON IS NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER AND THAT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE - orchard tours, pick-your-own where it is offered, roadside stalls and the festival all belong to those weeks, and a visitor arriving in June will find a pleasant sandstone town and no cherries whatsoever. THE CHERRY FESTIVAL falls in November, fills every bed in the district and should be booked months ahead. Farm visits are by arrangement rather than drop-in; the tourism office in town is the place to organise them. THE MAPUTSOE BORDER POST into Lesotho is a kilometre away, is the busiest road crossing into the country and CAN HAVE LONG QUEUES - take passports. Bloemfontein is 160 km west. MALARIA-FREE, and cold in winter.

Ficksburg and the Cherry Route on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos