Sujoy Dhar
A short train ride from Amsterdam takes you to Haarlem, one of the prettiest cities in Holland. Hop on to bus number 50 just in front of the railway station, and some half an hour later, you reach Keukenhof, precisely in a region called Lisse, south of Amsterdam. Alighting from the bus as you look on your right, you are dazzled by the sweeping view of pastel-coloured fields. Well, these are the famous Dutch flower fields that usher you into the Keukenhof gardens, which draw more than a million visitors every spring. Keukenhof (kitchen garden in English) is your best day out among flowers! Some seven million bulbs bloom in the spring, showcasing a total of 800 varieties of tulips.
A 10-minute walk from the bus stop to the Keukenhof garden’s entry plaza is one of the most memorable owing to the panoramic flower fields on your right, which look like carpets of geometric pastel-colour blocks. For Indians sold on Bollywood, it is here your romantic dream was fired by the Silsila memories of Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha in that iconic song “Dekha ek khwaab to yeh silsiley huye”.
This year on March 19, the 70th edition of Keukenhof was opened to visitors. Keukenhof’s theme is Flower Power in tune with the early 1970s vibes of bright colours, hippies, peace and music. The park is flowering beautifully now connecting people from across the globe who come together to enjoy the tulips, smells and colours. The Netherlands is famous for its bulb fields and the many flowers cultivated there. According to park officials, the Flower Power flower mosaic this time consists of some 50,000 bulbs planted in two layers. It is flowering magnificently and drives everyone crazy — whether you are an ace photographer or just a selfie mad tourist.
The history of Keukenhof dates back to the 15th century. Countess Jacoba van Beieren [Jacqueline of Bavaria] (1401-1436) gathered fruit and vegetables from the Keukenduin [kitchen dunes] for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. In 1641, the Keukenhof Castle was built with the estate expanding over 200 hectares.
Landscape architects Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher redesigned the castle gardens in 1857. That park, in the English landscape style, still constitutes the basis of Keukenhof. However, it was in 1949 that a group of 20 leading flower bulb growers and exporters decided to use the estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs, giving birth to the spring park of today. The park opened its gates to the public in 1950 and was an instant success, with 2,36,000 visitors in the first year alone.
The historic park acquaints visitors with cut flowers, plants and tree nursery products. Each year, 40 gardeners plant seven million bulbs at reserved locations throughout the park. At the end of the season, these bulbs are harvested and a new cycle of planting, blooming and harvesting begins again in autumn. In order to ensure that Keukenhof always has a new look, the planting is redesigned every year.
The seven million flower bulbs are supplied completely free of charge by a hundred exhibitors.
The different parts of the park vary from the English landscape garden to the renovated Japanese country garden. The garden offers surprising perspectives and exciting vistas and brings out the very best of ancient trees.
Not to be missed is the spot of a signature Dutch windmill at the back of the park from where you can enjoy a sweeping view of the tulip fields beyond the park circled by a water channel.
Well, you can also take a trip around the park in an electrically propelled whisper boat. The boat sails through the flower bulb landscape. For children, Keukenhof has a maze, a playground, a Miffy house and a petting zoo.
So you can explore Keukenhof by walk as well as by biking around the flower fields or taking a boat ride. Keukenhof rents bikes for men, women and children as well as tandems from the car park adjacent to the main entrance. By the time it closes on May 19, the flower exhibition will have received more than one million visitors from across the globe.
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2H2Gvn9
via Today’s News Headlines
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