Jomoud's Fotothing

My 2008 trip to Holland.

A day with FT friend Jamby at the world famous Keukenhof,
(This series will consist of approx. 100 photos)

Nowhere else in the world are the flowers and colours of the spring as glorious as at Keukenhof in The Netherlands. Here you can find endless inspiration while you relax in the beautiful surroundings of the park. Keukenhof offers you the opportunity to see millions of bulbs in bloom, fantastic flower shows and the largest sculpture park in the Netherlands. It is the most photographed place in the world.
Keukenhof (Kitchen garden), also known as the Garden of Europe is situated near Lisse, in the Netherlands, and is the world's largest flower garden. There are approximately 7,000,000 (seven million) flower bulbs planted annually at the park.
The flower garden was the idea in 1949 of the then-mayor of Lisse, a small town south of Amsterdam. The idea was to have a flower exhibit where growers from all over the Netherlands could show off their hybrids which will help the Netherlands as it is the world's largest exporter of flowers. It has expanded to an annually recurring event that has always drawn great numbers of visitors from all over the world. Keukenhof has been the world's largest flower garden for over fifty years, and draws in excess of a million visitors each year between mid March and mid May.

In 2009 the Keukenhof will be open from March 19 to May 21.

Where Keukenhof is situated now, was a hunting area in the 15th century. Herbs for the kitchen of the castle of Jacoba van Beieren were also collected here; hence the name Keukenhof.
The current park was a section of the sizeable estate of Castle Teylingen, with beautiful untamed bushes and dunes. After the death of Jacoba van Beieren, Keukenhof fell into the hands of rich merchant families. Baron and baroness Van Pallandt invited landscape architects J.D. and L.P. Zocher, designers of the Amsterdam Vondelpark, to make a design for the garden around the castle. This design, in the English landscape style, has always been the basis of Keukenhof.
At the moment the estate belongs to a Corporation.