The beautiful little village of Ashton is on Route 62 - South Africa's answer to the American Route 66 - a very popular tourist route that offers a scenic alternative to the N2. Ashton lies between Robertson and Swellendam, is home to five wineries and two large canneries and is famous for its rose nurseries - no surprises that Ashton Cellars, the local co-op, has the symbol of the rose on its wine labels.
Ashton lies in the Robertson Wine Valley between the Breede River and the foothills of the Langeberg mountains, which offers visitors some pretty awesome landscapes of towering cliffs, meandering streams, vineyards, orchards and a profusion of trees and indigenous flora.
Things to do, in and around Ashton, include cruising down the Breede River on a raft, mountain biking on one of the number of trails in the Wildepaardehoek (maps at the Tourism Bureau), rock climbing in Cogmans Kloof, just 2 km outside of Ashton and exploring the Old English Fort, which dates back to 1899.