Out with the old and in with the new

Apart from a lovely clematis which was still blooming in Sue Gillings' garden on 10th December, the flowers of 2020 seem a distant memory.

However, at Skinners Cottage, Spring is on its way despite the relatively cold temperatures of the last few days.     

It is the time of year when gardening begins to get exciting again; I love to see the hellebores peaking through and all you need is to cut off the leaves to expose the flowers and suddenly there is colour in your garden again. It is still early days and there are plenty which are still barely up but there are one or two front runners as you can see from the photos below.   

Another plant which is so easy to grow once you have it established is euphorbia oblongata; you can see it here beginning to flower and the bright  green/yellow of the flowers is a great contrast to other early flowering plants, particularly tulips. Once established, it will happily self-seed in all the right places.

Also putting it head above the planter early are the tiny petticoat daffodils; they are a paler yellow than I remember, but so delicate.  

Finally, I want to introduce you to a shrub which I think should be more widely known. It provides a great contrast to its predominantly green surroundings; it is Loropetulum (probably Black Pearl). It likes some shade and is potentially tender if left out in an exposed area, but it has been looking very striking in the border between the house and the Gatehouse for a number of years now.  

With best wishes for 2021 

Rosemary  

Double Dutch!

The second of our posts about the bulb fields features mostly the Netherlands but also a few photos of Zeeland and Brugge near which we stayed on our way back home.

The photos below feature Keukenhof which was established in 1949 by a consortium of bulb growers and flower exporters to showcase their products and support the export industry. Around 7 million bulbs donated by 100 growers are planted every autumn (Note by Ray: "and I thought Skinners Cottage had a lot of bulbs" ).

Keukenhof does not receive any government subsidies (nor does Skinners Cottage!) and revenues are generated from ticket sales and the food and beverage licensees on site. This amounted to ~ €25M in 2019 but, as a result  of Covid-19, was ZERO in 2020.

Two views from inside the Keukenhof  to the surrounding bulbfields. Often visitors in boats will be seen in the canals criss-crossing the bulbfields with heads just appearing above the tulips.

It is sad to think that so many bulbs must have been planted last year but largely left unseen but we would encourage everyone to go and experience the event and very much hope that we will be able to return in 2021.   

On one occasion we decided to travel towards Brugge via Zeeland, stopping for a while in Zieriksee and we stayed overnight in the lovely town of Middleburg. Zeeland was a revelation and whilst it is clearly very busy in the summer months, in April it was very quiet and quite delightful! As fans of New Zealand we knew that beautiful country was named after Zeeland by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.

We stayed in a lovely but slightly quirky hotel on the outskirts of Middleburg.

It was a short walk or even shorter cycle ride from the hotel into the medieval centre. Whilst the centre was largely destroyed during WW11, it has been beautifully restored and is just a delight!

The Staddhuis stands at the end of a large square one side of which was lined with restaurants, perfect for our evening meal.

On then to Damme just to the north of Brugge, where we have stayed a few times previously, and it is an excellent centre for cycling along the canals.

The cycling routes in both the Netherlands and this part of Belgium are very well signposted, witness the one below which was close to the hotel where we stayed just outside Damme to the north of Brugge.

Whilst the signposts are great the numbering system takes a bit of getting used to! Nothing is sequential and as you can see from the example below the options at sign post number 47 are to go left to 44 or straight on to 74. If maps are consulted beforehand and the numbers noted then it is fine. If not then a fair amount of head scratching is involved!

Brugge or Bruges has always been one of our favourite places for a short visit and whilst it is much busier now than when we first visited, it is still charming in all seasons. In winter or spring, there are limited numbers of visitors and so much to see in a relatively small area. 

Back then via Eurotunnel, having very much enjoyed the short break. Highly recommended but of course the beautiful weather we enjoyed on both of our trips cannot be guaranteed at that time of year.

Best wishes

Ray and Rosemary

The Dutch Bulb Fields

I had long wanted to go to see the tulips in Holland and this all proved to be something Ray was also keen on when it became apparent that we could do this by bicycle.  

We made two trips, one in early April 2018 and a second trip slightly later in April 2019.     We had thought we might repeat the trip in April 2020, but had not booked to go because Ray had a knee replacement in February and we decided to wait and see if it was practical.  Then, of course, COVID intervened!!     

The weather of both of our trips was lovely - clear blue skies and quite balmy.   We travelled to Harwich where we picked up the overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland.  It was a comfortable and easy trip and the weather was calm on both occasions.   

The journey  from the Hook of Holland to the bulb area is about one and a half hours and we stayed in a hotel in Noordwijk aan Zee which is on the coast.   Noordwijk is clearly a summer beach resort but also has a second season created by the flower displays. When you arrive in the area, you are very quickly aware of its focus on flowers and there was a wonderful display to meet us outside the hotel.    

The first visit was only about a month after Holland had emerged from a cold winter and it was surprising that so much growth had occurred during that time. 

Whilst we saw fields of daffodils and tulips, it was on this first visit that we experienced the heady scent of hyacinths.   You could see the whites, pinks and pale blue fields from some distance, but you could also smell them.   It was intoxicating.  

On both occasions we took the opportunity to visit Keukenhof.  Keukenhof means Kitchen garden" and is also known as the Garden of Europe.  It is one of the world's largest flower gardens, situated in the Dutch  town of Lisse.  Keukenhof is open for about 6 weeks of each year and attracts over a million visitors.    We were lucky in that we found the back entrance and also arrived early and so parking was easy and we did not have to queue for tickets.   

The bulb planting is simply awesome.  It is a good two-three hours to get around the whole site, but it is a great opportunity to see some simply wonderful displays of tulips, alliums, fritillaria, muscari and much much more. 

The planting is broken up by ponds and alleys and green areas but there is a lot of intense colour;  some beds are wonderfully "in your face", but it all works. 

In between the visit to Keukenhof and visiting around the bulb fields, on each occasion, we cycled around the area, visiting Leiden, Katwijk and Noorwijkerhout.  

There is also a very pleasant cycle ride along the sand dunes of Noordwijk.   

Rather than returning from the Hook of Holland, we decided to travel back via the tunnel stopping off in Zeeland and Brugge.

To tempt your appetite for a visit, we will publish another post tomorrow with more photos of Keukenhof and some of Zeeland and Brugge

Ray & Rosemary