Invitation to The World Daffodil Tour 2024

Dear readers,

Every five years, Daffodil enthusiasts from all over the world organise a World Daffodil Tour. Over the years, we have visited places like New Zealand, the United States of America, and England, locations that are home to many colleagues and fellow flower bulb enthusiasts, too. This year, it’s time for The Netherlands to organise a programme, and we are also collaborating with Northern Ireland to put together a wonderful event. In The Netherlands, my friend Eric Breed and I have been asked to manage the Dutch portion of the programme. We have been working on it for a long time now, and it is finally time to share it with you all.

The World Daffodil Tour in The Netherlands will be organised together with Van der Valk Vakanties. This is a well-known Dutch company, and they are the obvious choice for an event like this: not one single person in The Netherlands has never heard of Van der Valk, whether it’s the hotels or their event planning that they are familiar with. There are several locations throughout the country, and we will be staying at Van der Valk Hotel A4, close to Schiphol and very easy location-wise to travel all over North- and South Holland. Dutch people know Van der Valk because of the restaurants that are always at the hotels, too: good food, very hospitable staff, and if you are travelling, comfortable, luxurious rooms at all locations.

Let me tell you more about the programme, first.

Day 1: Monday, April 15

Arrival at the Schiphol Hotel A4.

Day 2: Tuesday, April 16

After breakfast, you can park yourself in a comfortable touring car organised by Valk Vakanties. For our first trip, we will be visiting my hometown: Burgerbrug. We will start off by visiting the Fluwel Daffodil Nursery at Jan Hein Rotteveel’s house, located at Burgerweg 7, Burgerbrug, if you want to have a look on Google Earth. This nursery houses over one hundred different kinds of Daffodils. After an hour of touring, we will move to the other side of the North Holland Canal and see the Fluwel Warehouse, where I keep another collection of over a thousand different daffodils and seedlings. We also have our full assortment of Tulips on display in the field next to the warehouse. Then, we will go to our adventure park Land van Fluwel for lunch. After lunch, it’s time for two of the most modern, up-to-date flower bulb growers of The Netherlands: Pennings De Bilt in Breezand, and W van Lierop and Sons in Anna Paulowna. At these locations, you will get a lot of insight in modern-day flower bulb trade, and all the ways in which growers are aiming for a sustainable business in 2024. At the end of the day, we will return to the hotel, where we will enjoy dinner and drinks for the rest of the evening and night.

Day 3, Wednesday April 17

We return to our touring bus and drive towards Egmonden, a Dutch area in North Holland. We will first visit the Hortus Bulborum in Limmen. The Hortus Bulborum is a sort of flower bulb retirement home. They have collected an enormous amount of spring-blooming flower bulbs that are being taken care of by a dedicated crew of flower bulb growers. You will be able to see which flower bulbs were being grown back in the day and which ones are now almost totally replaced by newer, shinier varieties. After the Hortus Bulborum, we will visit Egmond aan de Hoef to see the Daffodil collection of Flying Colours by Michiel de Waard. Flying Colours is well-known within the Daffodil world due to their exclusive assortment and many different varieties of Daffodils that have been developed by growers all over the world.

After our visit to Flying Colours, the growers of Egmond offer us lunch in a historic chapel in town. At the time of our visit, the town also hosts a Daffodil Show locally, so we will be able to see that as well.

After lunch, we will visit a nursery that will be heaven for our true Daffodil enthusiasts: Joost Kuiper and his specialty flower bulbs. Jos works at a larger grower, but his hobby is collecting and growing the most special kinds of flower bulbs, among which is a large number of Daffodils that you have probably never heard of before. A small but special treat, a true candy store for people who have seen a lot of flower bulbs in their lives: you’ll still be surprised here.

After this visit, we will return to the Hotel for the day. Dinner and drinks will be served there.

Day 4: Thursday, April 18

In the morning, we will visit Eric Breed. Without exaggeration, he has the largest collection of spring-blooming flower bulbs in the world. Eric will show you thousands of different varieties of Daffodils, Tulips, and an immeasurable number of other spring-blooming flower bulbs that you may have never seen before. We will only be spending one morning here, but I have to say that we could spend all three days here and not be bored for a single second. After Eric’s collection, we will be moving on to Hein Meeuwissen in Voorhout. He has an extensive collection of smaller Daffodils and miniature Tulips, too. He has the most special varieties and knows a lot about them. Most of the varieties you’ll see are also for sale in his own web shop. Hein will also supply a lunch, so we have more time around his flower bulbs.

After lunch, we will go to the one thing we could not skip: De Keukenhof. A Dutch staple, and we could not have better timing. When we are at Keukenhof, they will be having their special Daffodil Show there, too. Keukenhof may be known as a bit of a tourist cliché, and that is not wrong, but Keukenhof also has a very good reputation among flower bulb growers. We do use the gardens to show our colleagues and other experts what we are offering that season. It's for tourists, sure, but it is also for experts and professionals. We are trying to organise a meet & greet with the growers of the Daffodil Show, too, for our visit, but this has not been confirmed yet. We will let you know as soon as possible, because it would be very nice: you’d be able to meet all growers of the various displays of Daffodils at Keukenhof and ask them everything you have ever wanted to know.

Our visit to Keukenhof is our final World Daffodil Tour activity. We will return to the Hotel after having dinner one last time, and spend the evening together before returning home the following day, or, if you’ve doing the full tour: to travel on to Northern Ireland, where the convention will continue.

Day 5: Friday, April 19

Return home or travel on towards Northern Ireland for the second part of the World Daffodil Tour 2024!

The full Dutch part of the World Daffodil Tour will cost between 600 and 700 Euros, depending on the hotel room you choose.

The package price includes the following:

If you are interested in this wonderful opportunity to see the Dutch Flower Bulb World for yourself, you can send an e-mail to my daughter Pien at pien@fluwel.nl. She will send you all information about participating in the Tour.

For my European readers, I would like to emphasise that it is not possible to attend only parts of the programme and, for example, sleep at your own house and arrange your own transportation. I understand that you may see that as a good option if you are familiar with the area, but we are looking at a fairly large number of (international) participants and we want the programme to go as smoothly as possible. This will be much harder if we have to keep track of who has to arrive on their own accord, who has not made it yet, et cetera. Think of the World Daffodil Tour as an all-inclusive vacation of sorts: just show up to the hotel, and everything will be arranged for you! All you have to do is look at the flowers.

A wonderful week with flower bulb enthusiasts from all over the world, with no obligations other than seeing new Daffodils, making new friends, and hopefully making memories that last a lifetime. I’m really looking forward to it, and I hope to see you all there, too.

The deadline for participation is February 1, 2024. I do want to say that there is lots of interest, and we only have a set number of rooms and touring car seats, so be sure to email Pien if you want to go.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek