The human brain craves pleasure. It will go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy that need. Send its body on masochistic errands of error even. Unwittingly transform that need into greed. All for its own sake. Often at the sake of others.
Today, we allow ourselves to get hooked. Forget the weed. Become a couple of junkies of a different kind. Indulge in some social pandering. Stimulate those hedonic parts of the brain that get high on ‘the visual’.
For a short eight weeks of the year, Koekenhof Gardens are in full bloom. Magical multi-coloured carpets, predominantly tulips, laid out in regal fashion, welcome its 1.5 million visitors. We go tread that light-fantastic show. Join today’s 26,000, in this, its 76th year.
Our expectations are exceeded. We came anticipating a typical flat Dutch landscape. With endless rows and rows of plantings. However, in places, it’s like a New Forest Wonderland.
Each year, the chief designer draws up new and different plans. All old bulbs are dug up. New ones shipped in by over one hundred different suppliers – gratis! Then it’s over to his team of forty gardeners to get to work. During October, November and December they plant seven million bulbs. [my knees flinch at the thought]
A perfect blend of formal and informal designs lead the visitor on a journey of joy. In order to maintain as much colour as possible throughout the eight weeks, some sections are planted in tiers of three. With the latest flowering bulb buried below the earlier two.
Brought over from Türkiye in the sixteenth century, the tulip is now synonymous with the Netherlands. Eight hundred varieties are put on display at Koekenhof, within a landscape of 2,500 trees.
We depart on an exuberant high . . .