Garden Of Europe

Hey, on this post I'd like to tell you about a place that I really want to visit.

So first let me tell you that I am a big fan of flower. Yup. So can you guess what place that is on my bucketlist?

It's.... KEUKENHOF.

Here we go.

Keukenhof or "Kitchen Garden" in English, is also known as Garden of Europe. It is one of the biggest flower garden in the world. Keukenhof is located in Lisse, Netherlands. Based on the official website of Keukenhof garden, there are approximately seven million bulbs of flower planted there. They cover an area of 32 hectares or 79 acres.

The history of Keukenhof, the name of meaning "kitchen garden", goes back to the 15th century. Countess Jacqueline of Bavaria, Jacoba van Beieren (1401-1436) gathered fruit and vegetables from the woods and dunes for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641, and the estate grew to an area of over 200 hectares.

Landscape architects Jan David Zocher and his son Louis Paul Zocher, who also designed Amsterdam's Vondelpark, redesigned the castle gardens in 1857. That park, in the English landscape style, still forms the basis of Keukenhof.

In 1949 a group of 20 flower bulb exporters came up with a plan to use the estate for a permanent exhibition of spring-flowering bulbs, signaling the birth of Keukenhof as a spring park. The park opened its gates to the public in 1950 and was an instant success, with 236,000 visitors in the first year alone. In 2016 the 67th edition of Keukenhof is taking place, with the Golden Age as its theme. During the last 66 years Keukenhof has grown into a world-famous attraction.

The Keukenhof features a variety of different gardens and garden styles. For example, the English landscape garden features winding paths and unexpected see-through points (designed by Zocher in 1830, the garden architect of the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, among others). The historical garden is an enclosed garden where you can see many old types of bulbs. The nature garden consists of a water garden where shrubs and perennials are combined with bulbous plants. The Japanese country garden is a non-traditional garden in a natural environment. The majority of flowers that are planted are tulips, but there are also other flowers such as daffodils, hyacinths, roses, chrysanthemums, and lavenders.


So.. there you go. It's one of the place that I want to go to. I hope one day I can really be there amazed by the flowers.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keukenhof
http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/discover-the-park/what-keukenhof/
http://www.holland.com/global/tourism/article/keukenhof.htm
http://cheeseweb.eu/2014/04/facts-about-keukenhof-gardens-tulips-netherlands-2014/
http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/footer/about-keukenhof/