Now for the ten things about Stellenbosch you probably didn't know...

Before testing your general knowledge skills about Stellenbosch with the promised "Top 10 things about Stellenbosch you probably didn't know", I just wanted to update you on developments at the Oude Leeskamer Guest House. We are certainly starting to find our feet (we are - after all - two and a half weeks old today!), and are really looking forward to what is already promising to be a very busy Summer season, but are still celebrating a number of very exciting "firsts" on an almost daily basis, including:

• Having our first guests from New Zealand (and thankfully they did not give us too much of a hard time about the Tri-Nations)
• Having set up our first ever Facebook page - feel free to "like" us at our Oude Leeskamer Guest House facebook page.
• After many a failed attempt to do justice to the brown bread recipe that has successfully been used by three generations of my family, I finally perfected the art of making Lombard/Freese brown bread and - together with the home-made bran muffin - it is a great accompaniment to the Joostenberg cured meats and Dalewoodcheeses in our continental bread basket! 

After all that exciting news - onto the (less well-known) facts about Stellenbosch. I reiterate last week's challenge - anyone who can honestly say they knew all these facts shall be rewarded with fame and fortune (or at least a mention in next week's blog...) So - here it goes...

• In the early days of the Second Boer War (1899-1902) Stellenbosch was one of the British military bases and was used as a remount camp for British soldier. 
• Last week the Stellenbosch University Sport Performance Institute (SUSPI) hosted South Africa’s 2010 National Special Olympics Summer Games, where over 350 athletes from eight provinces competed in various sport codes in preparation for the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Athens, Greece.
• Stellenbosch Rugby Club is regarded as the biggest rugby club in the world
• Dorp Street has one of the longest rows of old buildings surviving in any major town in southern Africa. (Most of the buildings date from the 19th century!)
• Strawberry farming is the second-largest export product of Stellenbosch and has an interesting history – during the 1800s silkworms were imported from China to start a silk industry. To feed the worms, a large number of mulberry trees were planted without success. In Jamestown, a missionary named Luchoff thus decided to import strawberries from Europe to feed the worms, and thereby established strawberries in the area. 
• Stellenbosch was the location where the Guinness Book of Records’ largest human mobile record was set. The Mobile was made up of 105 people from Target Cranes, The Stunt Company, the Bellville Fire Department and the Fire Brigade of Boland Municipality and was set in the grounds of Horizon House, Stellenbosch on 3rd November 2007.
• The Stellenbosch Toy and Miniature Museum contains the continent’s only miniature of South Africa's famous Blue Train. The extremely detailed and life-like miniature train travels from a miniature Stellenbosch, through the vineyards and the mountains to the Karoo where it passes a miniature Matjiesfontein before it returns back to Stellenbosch.
• Stellenbosch University was the first university in the world to design and launch a microsatellite.
• Omar Henry (South African cricketer), Charl Langeveldt (South African cricketer), Roger Telemachus (South African cricketer), Paul Roos (Springbok Rugby player), JP Pietersen (Springbok rugby player) and Giniel de Villiers (Rally Driver) were all born in Stellenbosch.
• The Stellenbosch Modern and Contemporary (SMAC) Art Gallery officially opened in November 2006 on the first floor of the renovated De Wet Centre in Stellenbosch, and is now one of the largest commercial exhibition spaces in the Western Cape.