Franschhoek Country House & Villas - Meet Jean- Pierre Snyman

1)     How long have you been operating Franschhoek Country House & Villas?

25 years. We bought the property which at that stage was running as a 6 bedroom B&B that is today the Standard Rooms in the main building. We then started Monneaux Restaurant, added the luxury rooms and Garden Cottages. Then years later we bought the property adjacent and built our exclusive Villa Suites and with that upgraded the original Franschhoek Country House. So there has been quite a road since then and it has been great to see the property develop over the years.

2)     What is your favourite thing about the property?

Our team, the longest-serving member has been with us for 23 years, a number of them approaching 20 years and a large number has been with us for more than 10 years. They are part of the FCH family and we have walked quite a road with all our staff.

3)     Where did you grow up?

Johannesburg, where I met my wife Juanita who has been actively involved in building up the business together with my family.

4)      And how long have you lived in Franschhoek?

About 22 years. Married with 3 children, our daughters are now 18&16 and our boy is 5 years old.

4)     What do you love about Franschhoek?

The scenery first and foremost, the lovely restaurants and wine farms. It is a wonderful place to live as a family and bring up our kids. It's was quite a small community when we first moved here but fortunately not too small anymore so we love living here - its idyllic!

5)     Where do you see FCH in the next couple of years in terms of being family-run?

Ideally, we would like to expand even further. We are not actively involved in the day to day running of the hotel as we have a wonderful team looking after our valued guests. We are thankful for being blessed with this business and this team so we look forward to future expansion once we get out of the current pandemic chaos. Together with our sister property Shumbalala Game Lodge we are keen to look for at future opportunities as we remain positive about tourism to South Africa!