Science - April 7, 2005

Students enjoy trip to sunny Keukenhof

Last Saturday morning a group of forty-five students went by bus to visit the Keukenhof, the most famous garden open to the public in the Netherlands.

The Keukenhof garden is a showcase for the Dutch national flower, the tulip, as well as other bulb flowers, and is at its best at this time of the year. The name Keukenhof means kitchen garden: what is now a decorative flower garden was created as a herb and vegetable garden in the 1400s by the Countess of Holland, Jacoba van Beieren, on her estate of Slot Teylingen near Lisse.

The excursion was organised by KSV-international. The group also visited the beach at Scheveningen and the Binnenhof in The Hague. The weather was good and Giedrius Miliauskas, a PhD student from Lithuania, really enjoyed the day. ‘The Keukenhof is famous far beyond the borders of the Netherlands, and indeed, there were lots of tourists there on Saturday. I’m a sandwich PhD so I’ve come to the Netherlands a number of times, but never in the spring. This year I finally had the opportunity to be here in April, so I knew I had to visit the Keukenhof. I planned to go myself, but when I found out that KSV-international were organising an excursion, I signed up immediately.’ / YdH