janetto

I love irises and one of these years I wish to go to Schreiner’s Iris Garden….

This was an amazing garden. I believe this was originally the estate of a dutchess and the keukenhof I believe means something like garden off of the kitchen. You’ll notice that throughout the Netherlands that the elm trees are all about 30 meters apart and the same in this wonderful place.

As others here can attest, there are all shapes, sizes and colours of tulips. There are many other flowers and shrubbery. It is well laid out and the first thing when you enter you view a sea of tulips and it gives the illusion like it’s as far as your eye can see. When I went there a few years back, they had different gardens. A completely white garden with sculpted boxus. Also Rhododendrons that were probably 15 feet tall. We can barely grow them here, so it was absolutely enchanting. There is a large pond and they have swans and other waterfowl that come right up to you. If you know someone, have them visit with you as they will likely enjoy watching your sense of amazement and you will definitely enjoy the surroundings – especially if you are a gardener.

They have also a display of wooden shoes and a huge wooden shoe that you can sit in. Also there is a pipeorgan that plays.

If you go to the Netherlands (Holland is actually the province where the Keukenhof is) this is a must see. Parking is a little insane, but well worth the admission etc.

If you are wanting to bring bulbs back, get them at the airport as I’m pretty sure they would have th phytosensitive certificates. Which clears them through customs in almost all countries.

This is a very nice castle. It is restored. Although we didn’t go into the paying part which is inside certain parts of the castle.

If I remember correctly there is an ENORMOUS keg in one of the rooms off of a large hall. And when I say enormous, well, there are stairs that go up the side and back to a platform and then on the other side they lead back down. There are tours that they give, but my aunt & uncle took us through. I think it holds something like .25 million litres.

The nice thing is that when you are out on the terrace it looks over the Neckar river.

Going there and coming back there are plenty of steep hills. We had swollen feet from travelling and acclimatizing, so you may want to ensure you take the bus up to the castle as there is little parking right by the castle itself.