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| Lisse tulip fields |
It was a typical spring morning, cool, damp and cloudy. A nearly perfect day to explore the Keukenhof gardens! The Keukenhof gardens, one of the largest flower gardens in the world is just a mere thirty kilometres from our house. We had gotten up early, worried that it would undoubtably get very busy at the 'Garden of Europe' and so after a few coffees we gathered our prepared picnic and set off. The road was nice and clear and within twenty minutes we arrived in the town of Lisse, and drove past the flower fields looking at the wonderful bright and beautiful tulips.
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| Cherry yellows! |
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| Sea of gold |
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| Purples, pinks and whites |
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| Colours of the rainbow |
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| Entering the Keukenhof gardens |
Our anticipation of arriving had long preceded us since John had bought our tickets online in January!
The difficulty had been finding a free day during the short eight week period that the garden is open (and the spring flowers are blooming!).
We were also worried since Europe has had an unusually mild winter that the flowers would have passed their prime, but once we arrived our fears were laid to rest!
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| Stopping to smell the wild flowers |
According to the official website for the Keukenhof Garden, approximately 7 million flower bulbs (of five hundred varieties in every colour you can imagine) are planted annually in the 32 hectare park.
A large part being the famous and gorgeous Dutch tulips.
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| Tulips gardens, Keukenhof |
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| Colourful flower beds |
The history of Keukenhof, which translates as 'kitchen garden' goes back to the 15th century when it was local hunting grounds but also a source of herbs for the Countess Jacqueline of Bavaria (1401-1436) who lived in a then nearby castle.
It was in 1949 that an official garden was established by the then-mayor of Lisse. The idea was to present a flower exhibit where growers from all over the Netherlands and Europe could show off their hybrids – and help the Dutch export industry (the Netherlands is the world's largest exporter of flowers).
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| Rays of yellow |
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| Cherry blossoms and tulips |
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| Islands of tulips in a blue sea |
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| Canals of daffodils |
Today it's estimated that over 1.2 million people visit every year (in the eight weeks it's open). But our guess is that most of them came on the same Saturday as us!! Because it wasn't long after we arrived that it got busy! Very, very busy!
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| Hundreds of people... |
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| and hundreds more... |
There were a few passing showers of rain which caused mild chaos but the weather mostly remained fine. We spent several hours wandering through the gardens admiring the planted flowerbeds, taking hundreds of photos!
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| Blue magic |
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| Taking a break |
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| The Dutch Golden Age themed garden |
The garden was well worth the effort and although it was hectic we would definitely return next year. We would love to share ALL our photos but as that's not possible here are some of our favourites below!
Tot siens,
John and Kara
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| Wild flowers |
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| Wild flowers |
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| Blue orchids |
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| Pastel pink tulips |
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| Flower bunches (and Kara pointing to her favourite) |
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| Spring daffodils |
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| Emperor tiger tulip |
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| Tulips in the rock gardens |
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| Covered in rain dew |
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| Inside the tulip |
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| Pinks and oranges |
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| Gardens of tulips |
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| Rare striped tulip |
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| Tulips along the water |
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| Beautiful pinks |
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| Gorgeous flowers |
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| John under the blossoms |
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| Tulips- Pink and yellows |
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| John taking a closer look |
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| Spring gardens |
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| Pots of tulips |
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| Tulips and summer daffodil |
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| Birds eye view |
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| Catch up Kara- more to see! |
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