THE KEUKENHOF FLOWER PARC- NETHERLANDS

The history of Keukenhof dates back to the 15th century. Countess Jacqueline of Bavaria (1401-1436) gathered fruit and vegetables from the Keukenduin [kitchen dunes] for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641 and the estate grew to encompass an area of over 200 hectares. Read more here, the whole history of the Keukenhof.



I will not copy and paste the history of the Keukenhof, because if you want, click on the link above and you have it all.

The most important is the incredible beauty of this huge flower park and fields. The park’s focus is on the 7 million spring-flowering bulbs, which allow the 100 participating companies to show their living catalogue. 500 flower growers present an enormous variety of cut flowers and pot plants at the over 20 flower shows.

The following photos show you what I have seen during an excursion from Brussels to the Keukenhof nearly 230 km from Waterloo, where I live.



Our bus and all the others from all European countries and the entrance



The first glimpse through the bus window when arriving



Flower arrangements, I love the Jeans flower "pot" !



Different buildings with flower arrangements



Nice idea to sell ice cream in an old Volkswagen ! From the wind mill's first floor you have a wonderful view on the blooming tulip fields



Photo found on Internet



Photo shooting or wedding ?



I am sitting between the Jeans flower pots, Hare Krishna also admire the flowers, Nicole poses and Myriam takes pictures !





Black rose
























































Also a very creative idea ! A shopping bag as flower pot !



and to end our tour we saw a few little animals and also working people not only tourists !

After 5 h we had a lunch break, returned to the bus and went to Scheiveningen the beach of Den Haag and had a drink there.

It had been a wonderful day seeing all these beautiful flowers and flower arrangements ! What a creativity !

more participants here

KEUKENHOF - Holland

When I went to Amsterdam last week, my son took me to the Keukenhof  which means "Kitchen garden", and which is also known as the "Garden of Europe". It is the world's largest flower garden situated near Lisse, Netherlands. According to the official Keukenhof website for the Keukenhof Park, approximately 7,000,000 (seven million) flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area of 32 hectares.

Unfortunately the high season which is in mid April when all the tulip fields are blooming was over but still the park is absolutely stunning.



The entrance









and everywhere colorful flowers of all kinds.





If you go up inside the windmill which dates from 1892 you have a wonderful view over the tulip fields.



I could take this picture, there were still some tulips blooming. In high season it looks like this picture below.



which I found on Internet.

On the other side of the windmill you see the park



there is a little zoo with mini pigs, goats and there also was a little calf. Much to the fun for children and also adults.



Here you could buy flower bulbs



A Chopin statue, sculptured in wood




nicely decorated "rooms" of course not to sit in there.





Instead you could picnic on this original seats and table.



These chairs were made out of glass and bark.

As there was not much to see on the tulip fields we visited the Lily Exhibition in the Willem Alexander Pavillon, which is the highlight of the series of Flower Exhibition.
 






Even grandson Toby appreciated the colorful flowers and even more the fountains.




It is the largest exhibition of its kind in the world. Introduced more than 30 years ago, the Lily Exhibition was also Keukenhofs first flower exhibition ever. Today, the exhibition spans some 6000 m2 and includes over 300 different varieties of lilies in hundreds of breathtaking arrangements









as you can see here



Even for modern tastes



I loved this flower "pot" especially would look very nice in our front yard.