Flower power in Holland

GO HOLLAND: While the Chelsea Flower Show is more about garden design, the Keukenhof in the Netherlands is all about the sheer volume of blooms and the different ways of displaying them, writes CONOR POWER

PERSONALLY SPEAKING, I can take them or leave them, but flowers play a big part in the life and well-being of my wife. A very big part. So it was with an excitement level that I can only describe as “noisy” that she greeted the idea of going to the largest flower garden in the world in Lisse, southern Holland, where the Keukenhof takes place every spring.

Keukenhof means kitchen garden in Dutch. Located 40km south of Amsterdam, it’s a huge flowering park that covers some 80 acres of manicured, blooming perfection, attracting annual visitor numbers in the region of 800,000 from all corners of the world.

The original “kitchen garden” of the title was that of Countessa Jacoba Van Beieren who used it as such for her huge estate during the 15th century. In 1840, landscape artists Zocker and Son (who also designed Amsterdam’s Vondelpark) transformed it into what it looks like today and in 1949, the Keukenhof was opened to the grand public for the first time.

While the Chelsea Flower Show is more about garden design, at the Keukenhof the emphasis is on the sheer volume of blooms and the different ways of displaying them. Also while Chelsea runs for a week in May, the Keukenhof starts on the third week in March and runs until the latter end of May. If Chelsea is a pop video, then Keukenhof is an opera.

The Dutch struck me as possibly the most relaxed and friendly bunch I’ve ever met outside of Ireland. Maybe there’s something in the tea in Holland or maybe it does the soul good not to have to worry about going up hills or your train being late, or maybe it’s the serene pleasure you get from cycling through fields of blooms, like gliding through a giant colour card.

You’re never far from a canal in Holland and the constant presence of water on the horizon makes you feel like you’re in the middle of an enormous flood plain (which, in a sense, you are). Moreover, although there’s certainly no shortage of people, there is a surprisingly large amount of open countryside in and around the town of Hillegom, which was our base for the week.

We were staying in a house that was within spitting distance of a canal and by a main road flanked with the mandatory cycle lanes. It was to the very foreign sound of spoked wheels swishing and bicycle bells tinkling that we awoke in the morning.

Our three boys – aged between five and 10 – were with us and we cycled the 4km to Lisse along the cycle paths. Cycling is very safe in Holland with an enviable lane network that’s almost as comprehensive as the roadway for cars and you don’t see many people wearing the helmets that have become obligatory in Ireland.

It had been a particularly cold spring when we arrived and we weren’t sure how many flowers would be actually flowering. Although we had been drawn to southern Holland by the promise of fields and fields of multicoloured flowers, brown speckled with green was the overwhelmingly predominant colour theme.

The hyacinths were in evidence alright and the daffodils were beginning to raise their heads. There were even tulips visible in the fields, but they were still closed and huddled against the cold.

The people in the Keukenhof are, however, well ahead of whatever the weather might throw at them. Their well-tended and sheltered flower beds seem to have a head start on everywhere else. Also, they have four large indoor “pavilions” that house the most dramatic displays of spring flowers. One pavilion – the Queen Beatrix – is devoted to tulips alone. I honestly never knew that there was such a bewildering variety of the same thing. My wife was in flower nirvana and was practically floating around the displays.

Bicycles are welcome in the Keukenhof and many choose this option for getting around the huge site. There are walking guided tours too to help you get the most out of your visit and a recent innovation has been the introduction of the electric-motor “whisper” boats. These flat-bottomed traditional vessels glide through the Keukenhof and off out into the flat Dutch countryside.

I had to turn down repeated requests from my youngest child to “play” in the inviting flower displays, but there is a lot to tempt and occupy children at the Keukenhof. There are numerous playgrounds, bridges to cross, a park-wide treasure hunt, fun clog-making inside a windmill and a petting zoo.

In truth, you could spend a number of days exploring the Keukenhof. One was enough for our gang and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. In any case, over the next few days, most of the flowers suddenly opened, so we did get to glide through our giant multicoloured level landscape with Dutch spring fever in our heads.

* keukenhof.nl

Get there

Aer Lingus (aerlingus.com) flies daily from both Dublin and Cork to Amsterdam, and Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Eindhoven from Dublin.

Keukenhof where to . . .

Stay

Hotel de Duif. Westerdreef 49, Lisse. See hoteldeduif.nl or tel 00-31-252-410076. Well-located (the Keukenhof is practically around the corner) three-star hotel with a basic but personal service.

Lisse Golden Tulip. Heereweg 10, Lisse. See goldentuliplisse.nl or tel 00-31-252-433030. Another well-located three-star hotel.

Flower festivals bloom in Europe

* Festival International des Jardins, April 22nd to mid-October, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, France (see domaine-chaumont.fr). This festival is a showcase for all that is avant-garde in the world of garden design. The setting is suitably splendid – the grounds of a 15th-century Loire Valley chateau located midway between Blois and Tours. As well as the romantic turrets on the white chateau itself, there are landscaped gardens and a gorge with wooden suspension bridge.

* RHS Chelsea Flower Show, (May 24th to 28th) Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London (rhs.org.uk). Possibly the biggest of its kind in the world and an important trend-setter in the field of garden design, these are hospital grounds like no other and it makes for a great excuse for a trip to London in May.

* Tallinna Lillefestival, May 27th to August 27th, Towers’ Square Park, Tallinn, Estonia (see lillefestival.tallinn.ee). Located in the city centre, this recently-formed flower fest attracted 400,000 visitors in its first year (2009). This year, the Estonian capital is a European Capital of Culture and the 31 ornamental gardens on show will have the common theme of folk patterns.

* Infiorata, (June 23rd), Genzano di Roma, Lazio, Italy (see infiorata.it). Located close to the Pope’s residence at Castel Gandolfo and 40km south of Rome, this five-day festival has been running for over 200 years. The whole of one street (Via Italo Belardi) is covered in a spectacular mosaic carpet of flowers over which a masked parade marches dressed in mediaeval garb. A recent tradition has been a simpler youth version (Infiorata dei Ragazzi) a week before the main event.

* Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, (July 5th to 10th) Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, England (see rhs.org.uk). Less about garden design and more about the individual with a clear nod to environmental themes, many find this a more manageable and user-friendly version of Chelsea. A much better place to pick up useful new additions for your garden too.