World Daffodil Tour Invitation

Every five years, Daffodil lovers from all over the world organize a World Daffodil Tour. One time it is in New Zealand, another time in America and then again in England and so in turn a country is featured where quite a lot of Daffodil lovers live. This year it is the turn of the Netherlands and Northern Ireland to organize the World Daffodil Tour and Eric Breed and I have been asked to organize it. Of course we do that with great pleasure for our Daffodil friends from far and wide.

We organize the World Daffodil Tour in collaboration with Valk Vakanties and will stay the entire tour in the Van der Valk Hotel A4 near Schiphol. Many of us know the Van der Valk hotels; luxury rooms, hospitality and above average good food. Actually just incredibly good food.

The program is as follows:

Day 1 , Monday April 15, arrival at Schiphol Hotel A4

Day 2, Tuesday April 16

After breakfast you park your butt in a luxury coach bus from Valk Vakanties that will take you to Burgerbrug. There we will first visit the Fluwel Daffodil nursery at Jan Hein Rotteveel on Burgerweg 7 in Burgervlotbrug. This nursery has almost 100 different types of Daffodils. After walking around for an hour we go to the other side of the North Holland Canal to the Fluwel barn where my Daffodil collection of over 1000 different Daffodils and Daffodil seedlings are. The entire assortment of Tulips that we offer in the Fluwel web shop is also planted here. After having viewed this we go to our 'do and experience park' Land van Fluwel for a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

After lunch we will take a look at two of the most modern flower bulb nurseries in the Netherlands; Pennings De Bilt on the Schorweg in Breezand and W van Lierop and zn on the Grasweg in Anna Paulowna. Here you will get an idea of ​​how a modern flower bulb nursery operates today.

At the end of the day we return to our hotel where we enjoy a delicious meal and spend a pleasant evening together.

Day 3 , Wednesday April 17

We get back on the bus and head towards Egmonden where we go to the Hortus Bulborum in Limmen. The Hortus is a kind of flower bulb retirement home where an enormous assortment of spring flowering flower bulbs is maintained by an enthusiastic team of retired flower bulb growers. Here you can see which species were grown and traded in the past.

After visiting the Hortus Bulborum we will go to Egmond aan de Hoef to view the Narcissus collection of Flying Colors by Michiel de Waard. Flying Colors is known in the Narcissus world for its exclusive assortment of Narcissus for show but also has many special Narcissus from breeders from all over the world.

After the visit to Flying Colors, the joint flower bulb growers from Egmond will offer you a lunch in a historic chapel in Egmond aan den Hoef where a local Daffodil show will also be held.

In the afternoon we will visit a real enthusiasts nursery of special bulbous plants of Jos Kuiper. Jos works at a flower bulb grower but his hobby is collecting and growing the most special bulbs including many special Daffodils. Small but nice, a candy store for the enthusiast.

After this visit we head back to the hotel for more fun.

Day 4 , Thursday April 18

In the morning we first go to Eric Breed where we, without exaggeration, admire the largest collection of spring flowering bulbs in the world. At Eric's you will see literally thousands of different types of Daffodils, thousands of types of Tulips and countless types of other spring flowering bulbs. We are only here for a morning but a real flower bulb lover needs three days around that time to view Eric's entire assortment. After visiting Eric we go to the nursery of Hein Meeuwissen in Voorhout where an extensive assortment of mainly smaller Daffodils and miniature tulips can be seen. The most special types of flower bulbs can be found at Hein's nursery and during the summer months also available in his web shop. We also enjoy lunch at Hein's after which we go to the Keukenhof. The Keukenhof, who has not heard of it, the most beautiful spring garden in the Netherlands. A nice detail is that at the time of our visit the Daffodil show is being held which makes our visit even more worthwhile. Keukenhof is known for its tourist appeal, but the flower bulb sector also makes extensive and happy use of Keukenhof to show their products there as fellow professionals. If all goes well, it is not yet completely finalised, we hope to organise a 'meet and greet' there at the end of the afternoon with the entrants of the Narcissus Show. These entrants are the leading Narcissus growers and breeders in the Netherlands who will show their newest and most beautiful varieties there.

The visit to Keukenhof is the last visit of the World Daffodil Tour. We head back to the Hotel where we spend the evening together again to return home the next day.

For the real enthusiast, you can also register for the continuation of the World Daffodil Tour in Northern Ireland .

The price of this tour is between €600 and €700 depending on the room you book.

This price is:

including 4 nights at Schiphol Hotel A4

including 4 x dinner and soft drinks

including 3 days of transportation in the coach bus

including tourist tax

including possible use of the shuttle bus between the hotel and Schiphol airport

If you are interested in this fantastic opportunity to take a look behind the scenes in the Dutch flower bulb world, send an email to my daughter Pien and she will send you the information for registration: pien@fluwel.nl

A lovely and cosy midweek with flower bulb lovers among each other. Creating memories and making new friends. Don't think about it too long, just do it, it will be beautiful.

Registration before February 1st but there is quite a lot of interest in the tour and we have limited rooms and only two coaches.

Kind regards,

Carlos van der Veek