When we booked our Uniworld Tulips and Windmills river cruise we realised most other passengers would be choosing this particular trip in order to see the tulips and windmills. It’s in the name, isn’t it. To be perfectly honest, we booked the trip to coincide with Dougie’s birthday at the end of March and this particular cruise was available. We just wanted to escape after a few years of health issues. Regardless of the destination, we knew a Uniworld cruise would be a wonderful way to have a relaxing time away from home.
Yet home is actually where we have an abundance of tulips and, to a lesser extent, windmills. We live in a part of England called South Holland so it’s just as flat as Holland itself with bulb fields galore in the spring. In fact the field behind our house was full of daffodils on the day we left. I used to pin tulip heads onto floats for our annual Spalding Flower Parade. So lets just say – we’re surrounded by flowers.
Tulips in Keukenhof
So we weren’t overly excited about one of the most anticipated excursions: a visit to Keukenhof Gardens where we could see 70 acres of brilliant bulb displays. Dougie and I enjoyed the coach ride over to Keukenhof and joined in with some of the oohs and aahs as we drove past colourful fields en route. Once there we were smitten. Even with the weather not being too kind (windy and rainy) it really was a superb place to visit.
Here’s just a taste of the bloomin’ lovely Keukenhof.
Windmills at Kinderdijk
Likewise, we’re pretty familiar with windmills too. In fact Dougie used to work in the village of Moulton in Lincolnshire which boasts Britain’s tallest mill, standing 100 feet tall. But the mills is our part of the world are scattered about and generally mills for grinding flour. The windmills we saw in the Netherlands were used to pump water away from the low-lying land.
Over 10,000 windmills used to operate in the country and most have gone because of changing technology. However in the village of Kinderdijk a system of 19 windmills, built around 1740, still function. A UNESCO heritage site, it’s another must-see for tourists, like Keukenhof. We spent an afternoon there later in the week, arriving by boat which gently steered us along the water. Some of our group took to bicycles to pedal along the towpath. A really interesting trip, with the opportunity to learn about the workings of the windmills and appreciate the incredible way they kept the land free from the sea.
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