Great Britain
My yearly trip to England! It’s that time again. Yes, I am writing this on English soil, I am currently in a pub somewhere close to Harrogate, called The Castle Inn. I see they have a pub where on Wednesdays, some darts competition seems to be going on. I like places like these, and the fun thing is that in England, pubs like this sometimes have a couple of guest rooms above it. We don’t have that in The Netherlands, probably because our country is so small—there is always enough time to get home, because home cannot be that far away or it would be in Germany. In larger countries (which is any other country, really) sleeping over is way more normal than it is in Holland, which makes it fun to see all the small inns and guest rooms everywhere.
Clovelly
Before you think that my yearly trip to England is just me looking at pubs throughout the country… well, that is partly what it is, actually. I do really enjoy that part, and I have this thing where I try to not visit a place more than once. I always like to go somewhere I haven’t been before.
That is also because I don’t need that many Inns to begin with. I usually sleep over at my Daffodil friends’ houses when I visit them.
Writing about this did make me think about the fact that my Daffodil friends have become good friends of mine over the years. I see them all exactly once a year, and in between that time, we have almost no contact at all, except to request specific types of Daffodils or to ask questions about quantities or qualities of certain varieties. Sometimes, someone sends a wish list over before I visit, that is probably the most information we exchange, which means we also have lots to catch up on whenever we see each other.
Cornwall
Every visit is different: one person opens a bottle of wine, the next one goes for port, and sometimes, a bottle of whiskey is dug up from an old cupboard. But there is always one thing that is the same: we have a great time.
I tried to see if I would be able to describe these people for you, but obviously, they all read my blogs, so I need to be careful about what I say in here. I also think I could probably never truly capture everyone in words, especially after all of the years I’ve known most people by now. I’ve been making this trip for such a long time, and we have seen a lot of Daffodils together at this point.
But I could probably tell you something about Great Britain in general instead. Without any doubt, the UK is a Walhalla for Daffodil enthusiasts. There are so many passionate growers here, and the number of Daffodils grown in the UK is simply unimaginable.
The world of Daffodils roughly consists of two parts. One of those is the commercial Daffodil world, where large numbers of Daffodils are grown on enormous fields. This part in itself consists of almost three times the number of Daffodils the Netherlands has as a whole. These large growers are almost exclusively interested in the varieties of Daffodil that bring them the most flowers during the Winter months. They don’t really care about the specific looks of the flower, as long as the variety produces a healthy lot of bulbs and flowers every single year. These fields are, as you can probably imagine, insanely impressive. When they are in bloom, you can see Daffodils for miles and miles. And though you may think that a “pretentious” hybridizer like me isn’t a fan of this side of the Daffodil industry, that isn’t the truth. The truth is that we need each other, these big growers and the other side of the equation: the enthusiasts, the hobbyists, the very passionate hybridizers that I normally talk about.
The finesse of the Daffodil world can be found on this side, and the UK is the place where most of those people are located. The people who are just crazy about Daffodils, that is. My friends! Especially compared to the Netherlands, the UK has a lot of people who really love anything that has to do with gardening. Every year, I am astonished about the number of regular British people I encounter who are in some way serious about their garden or flower bulbs. The UK has this organisation called the Royal Horticultural Society, and it is huge. The RHS has different clubs called societies, and there is a society for everything: Tulip Society, Rose Society, Rock Garden Society, and of course the one I am a member of: the Daffodil Society. If you want, you can visit the RHS website and find a page with almost fifty different clubs you could join, where you can find your soulmates.
RHS building in London
You can probably guess that I have met many of my Daffodil friends though the Daffodil Society. I always talk about it a little bit jokingly, but I want to make it clear that the RHS and all of its different societies are extremely important, and not just to me. They really are the place where information is gathered and stored for everyone, and they unite people with hobbies not just in the UK, but all over the world. Everyone I meet through the RHS is passionate about what they do for it, and whenever I attend their events or go to one of their many parks or shows, it is beautifully organised and just a joy to visit. I like to joke about us all having the Daffodil virus and being crazy about our flowers, but I wouldn’t want to miss the RHS and the people I met through my Daffodil Society for the world. Though I am sure we can all laugh at ourselves every once in a while too. :)
My Daffodil friend Mark always says: You need all sorts to make the world beautiful. I like to live by that quote, even (or especially) when I encounter more difficult people. Perhaps I should start collecting quotes from my Daffodil friends so I can tell them to you. You can probably tell a lot about a person by their favourite quotes. I might come back to you about that next week!
Kind regards,
Carlos van der Veek
Carlos van der Veek
