The Coetsenburg Estate lies on the banks of the Eerste River in the town of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the second oldest European settlement in South Africa, after Cape Town. The town became known as the City of Oaks or Eikestad in Dutch and Afrikaans due to the large number of oak trees that were planted by its founder, the Dutch Governor of the Cape Colony Simon van der Stel, to grace its streets and homesteads. One gains access to the estate via Coetsenburg Road which crosses the Eerste River over an old wagon bridge at the site of the original ford, which is known as a drift in South Africa. The estate stretches up southwards from the Eerste River onto the slopes of the Stellenbosch Mountain, which is part of the Hottentots Holland mountain range, to the Blaauwklippen River (Blouklip River) which forms its southern boundary. Westwards, the estate borders the Coetzenburg Sports Grounds of the University of Stellenbosch, Paul Roos Gymnasium and the old Welgevallen Farm (Rhodes Fruit Farms) which is now the suburbs of Brandwacht, Dalsig, Anesta, Eden and La Pastorale. Eastwards the estate stretches into the Jonkershoek Valley to the Hottentots Holland Catchment Area and, to the south-east, the Assegaaibosch Nature Reserve which was once the Assegaai Bosch Estate, also owned by the founder of Coetsenburg, Dirk Coetsee.