Destinations :: Keukenhof

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Seven million tulips are grown every spring at Keukenhof for spectacular displays of colourful flowers in its what are regarded as one of the world’s largest gardens. The gardens sprawl on as many as 32 acres. These flamboyant acres have been sites of movie shoots of various countries and have, of course, been a “must see” for those who happen to travel to nearby towns or villages. We were in Brussels and it was less than couple of hours away. While outside the

gardens we saw daffodils growing wild and dancing in the breeze, perhaps much like what Wordsworh saw during that famous stroll in Lake District of England, inside it was a riot of colours.

Of recent origin, the gardens were established in 1949 on a piece of land close to the town of Lisse that had a bit of chequered history. The Netherlands, being the

largest exporter of flowers, wanted a garden where growers from Europe could come and raise their hybrids, in the process, help its floriculture industry to grow further. The long fields of tulips that one sees are not parts of the garden. They are private and, perhaps, in one of them Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha romanced each other.

It was most satisfying to visit the gardens. I had seen tulips earlier in Kashmir where they used to grow them in public gardens years

ago. Its tulip fields had not come up until then. Even the beds in my yard would have them. But they were weak and emaciated in comparison to what we saw here. The tulips here were robust, healthy and more vibrant in colours.