Not another wine farm
Everyone comes to Stellenbosch for the wine. Far fewer know that tucked into the valley is the private garden of Dylan Lewis — one of South Africa's most celebrated sculptors, internationally known for his powerful bronzes. Here his monumental works are set out across a landscaped garden of indigenous plants, winding paths and shaped hedges, all framed by the surrounding peaks. It's part art gallery, part nature reserve, and entirely unlike anything else you'll do on a Cape Town trip.
You don't look at these sculptures so much as encounter them — coming around a bend to find a great cat on a rock, or a wild figure mid-stride against the sky.
The leopards that made his name
Lewis first became famous for his big cats — leopards and cheetahs caught in moments of stillness and coiled power. Seeing one full-size in bronze, poised on a rock with the real mountains behind it, is a genuinely arresting experience. The animal looks as though it could turn its head at any moment.
One of the bronze big cats that first made Dylan Lewis internationally known.
The wild human figures
Over time, Lewis's work moved from animals to something more unsettling and profound: the "trans-figure" — part human, part beast, exploring the wild, instinctive self that lives beneath the civilised surface. Scattered through the garden, these striding, crouching, horned bronze figures feel almost alive among the plants.
Lewis's "trans-figures" — the wild self, cast in bronze and set loose in the garden.
A garden as much as a gallery
What makes the experience so special is that the garden itself is a work of art. Paths curve you deliberately from one sculpture to the next, through fynbos, past water, under trees, with the mountains always in view. It's designed to be walked slowly and quietly — a contemplative hour or two, not a quick tick-box stop.
The garden is a sculpture in itself — indigenous planting, shaped paths and mountain views.
There is also a studio space where you can glimpse the working side of the art — the maquettes, drawings and plaster forms behind the finished bronzes.
Behind the bronzes: plaster forms, drawings and works in progress.
Planning your visit
The garden is a curated, quiet experience rather than a walk-up attraction, so visits are by pre-booking — worth arranging ahead of your day rather than hoping to drop in. Allow a good couple of hours; it's not a place to rush. Wear comfortable shoes for the garden paths, and bring a camera — the combination of bronze, fynbos and mountain is endlessly photogenic.
The perfect pairing for a Stellenbosch day
Because it sits right by Stellenbosch, the Dylan Lewis Sculpture Garden pairs beautifully with a Winelands day — a morning among the sculptures, then a leisurely lunch and a tasting or two at a nearby estate. It's the ideal counterpoint for anyone who wants more than wine from their day in the valley, or for art lovers who'd never have guessed the Cape held something like this.
Cheryl can arrange the booking, time your visit for the quiet light, and build the rest of the day around it. Tell her you'd like to include the garden, and she'll do the rest.
