Corona stories: Corona walks 3, Flower fields

Between ancient, old and new: discoveries in the bulb cultivation area between Teylingen and Cruquius

The Netherlands are famous for their flower fields. Between March and May the tulips, daffodils and gladioli turn the flat, sandy fields along the coast between the towns of Leiden and Haarlem in a spectacular kaleidoscope of colours. Normally this time of the year the narrow lanes between the fields are filled with cyclists, cars, motorhomes and all kind of strange modern vehicles used by tour operators in Amsterdam to make their offers a bit more attractive to all the affluent tourists from overseas eager to see the flower display. Last year the fields were cut prematurely to keep people from coming. This year the long period of cold but beautiful weather makes the flowers last longer. With the almost complete absence of foreign tourists it probably is the best year ever to visit in peace.

You would not expect the area behind the sand dunes along the coast of the north sea to be especially attractive for a farmer. The sandy ground, the frigid climate and strong winds would scare every planter off, I am told by another tourist, from the eastern part of the Netherlands, who is a retired farmer himself. However, for the growth of the flowers the sandy ground is perfect. There are three main flower growing areas: between Noordwijk en Aardenhout, north of Ijmuiden and in the very north of Holland near Den Helder. The area north of Noordwijk is the best, my interlocutor tells me. The fields are rather small scale and more varied. It is in this area where the industry started as early as the 16th century.

Not only the ground, also the climate is ideal for the flowers. Wet winters are followed by a rather dry and sunny spring. The bulbs are buried in autumn. The ground is covered with straw to protect them from frost. The straw keeps the ground moist and sweltering in spring to improve growth. The flowers are mostly not used. In summer, after the bulbs are dried out, they are harvested, peeled by hand and dried at high temperatures in special sheds. Although tulips can also be reproduced using seeds, the bulb industry uses reproduction by bulbs.

One of the bulb processing plants

The old brick sheds used for drying the bulbs are monuments of industrial archaeology. Only few are actually remaining, usually in a deplorable state. Most farmers have replaced them by huge modern structures. In the flat landscape their light coloured panelling is visible from far away. They might be practical and cost efficient, but ugly.

One of the old sheds for drying the bulbs

By 1636, the tulip bulb became the fourth leading export product of the Netherlands, after gin, herrings and cheese. In the 17th century the tulip bulb trade created what is generally considered to have been the first recorded speculative bubble in history, the “Tulip mania”. Still now, the term is used metaphorically to refer to large economic bubbles when asset prices deviate from intrinsic values. In February 1637 some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled artisan.

Traditional farm houses

At the time, the Dutch Republic was one of the world's leading economic and financial powers with the highest per capita income in the world. The economic system was highly developed and formal futures markets appeared. The speculation in tulip futures made the price in tulips soar among people who never saw the bulbs. Some bulb contracts were changing hands ten times in a day. No deliveries were ever made to fulfil any of these contracts. In February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips ground to a halt. Many men made and lost fortunes overnight.

Farm house with a modernized old bulb shed in the back

The collapse began in Haarlem, maybe because the town was suffering from an outbreak of bubonic plague. The outbreak might have helped to burst the bubble.

Most of the workers in the fields come from eastern Europe

The center of the flower based tourism is the Keukenhof, a former castle turned attraction park close to Lisse. Due to Corona it is closed. One positive consequence is that the huge areas of grass land designated as parking lots for the visitors are empty. It is the only remaining country estate in the area.

An especially nice display of different varieties of tulips

The planters see the masses of tourists with mixed feelings. To get their selfies with flowers the visitors walk into the fields. They not only destroy the flowers but they also help spreading plant diseases. The monocultures, although highly drenched in chemicals, are sensitive to parasites and bacteria. The Erwinia bacteria disfigures hyacinths and can be transmitted via the shoes of visitors. Next to a barren field a woman tells me that it has to be kept in quarantine since it was infected. Many farmers protect the entrance to their flowering fields by fences and signs to keep out. Even in the quiet year 2021 not everybody obeys.

In the background the ruin of Teylingen castle

I go from Sassenheim via Lisse and Hillegom to Cruquius. The best known historic sight of Sassenheim is Teylingen castle. The ruins remaining today date back to the 13th century. A circular wall protects a rounded donjon. Although the castle proper is closed because of Corona I manage to walk around the moat, which was restored some years ago, to get a closer look from the outside. In a country without natural stone, fortifications had to be built from baked bricks or wood. In a flat county the moat and the height of the wall were the only defensive means. Teylingen castle is famous because it was the last residence of Jacoba van Beieren, a Wittelsbach noble women who ruled the counties of Holland, Zeeland and Hainout between 1417 and 1433. In her short life from 1401 to 1436 she was married four times, was the Duchess of Gloucester in 1420 and the Dauphine of France from 1415-1417.

Teylingen castle

It appears strange that a woman of a dynasty from far away Bavaria came to this remote castle in the low countries. Her grandfather, Albert I, duke of Bavaria, had married Margaret, duchess of Hainaut. Consequently Jacoba’s father, William II of Bavaria, had inherited the dutch possessions. Jacoba was his only daughter, although he had numerous other, illegitimate children. She was born in Le Quesnoy, in what is now France. In 1403, at the age of 22 month, she was betrothed to John, Duke of Tourraine, the forth son of the French king. The two children were raised together in Le Quesnoy. Jacoba never saw Bavaria. During her entire life her inheritance in the low lands was controversial and led to the endless wars between the Hooks, the fraction supporting Jacoba, and the Cods. Behind the Cods was the german emperor Sigismund and her own uncle, John III, the bishop of Liege. Eventually Jacoba lost her land but found her last love in her forth husband, Francis, lord of Borssele. She died in 1436 in Teylingen castle from Tuberculosis. This is only a short extract of the complicated history of her turbulent life. It is a good example how political power play marked the lives of people in medieval Europe.

The steeple of St. Agatha in Lisse

These continuous fights caused poverty in the area for much of the medieval times until the 80 years war, which ended in 1648. With the rise of the Dutch republic the area gained prosperity not only because of the start of the bulb cultivation, but also because increasingly rich dutch aristocrats and merchants started to built country estates. Except of the Keukenhof, all the estates around Lisse have been demolished to make space for the bulb cultivation.

Corona measures for visitors entering St. Agatha

Today, Lisse’s most prominent sight is the church of Sint Agatha built in 1902-1903 to a design by the architect J.H.H. van Groenendael, a student of Pierre J.H. Cuypers. The 60 meter long "Cathedral of the Bulb Region", built in Neo-Gothic style, is of the cross basilica type. The spire, shortened in 1929 and the crossing tower were built in the same Neo-Baroque style. The interior is impressive with its varied colourful masonry, stained glass windows, paintings and wooden baptismal font and altar. The church is open and I admire the high vaulted ceiling.

Vaulted ceiling

The other local center in this part of the bulb growing area is Hillegom. On June 5th, 1964 the insignificant little town had the chance to become famous. Four musicians played in the local flower bulb auction hall Treslong. The auction hall was demolished long ago. Instead, a monument in the park reminds of the first concert the Beatles gave in the Netherlands.

Memorial to the first concert of the Beatles in the Netherlands

In Hillegom I cross the canal around the Haarlemmermeer, the so called Haarlemmermeer Ringvaart. It is the natural border between the Dutch provinces of South and North Holland. The Haarlemmermeer is a good example for the fight of the Dutch against the water flooding their low land. Until the 19th century the area was covered by a lake which eventually reached a surface of 170 square kilometers. In 1573 the lake had been the stage of a naval battle between a Spanish and a Dutch fleet. Over the centuries the lake gradually increased in surface since the raging waters of each storm managed to bite away another part of the boggy peat surrounding it. In Dutch the process was known under the name “water wolf”. A hurricane in November 1836 drove the waters as far as the gates of Amsterdam and in december of the same year into the streets of Leiden. There had been plans to deal with the threat for a long time and finally the works began. A 61 km long, canal, the Haarlemmermeer Ringvaart was dug, surrounding a body of water with a surface of 180 sqkm and an average depth of 4 m.

Dutch Riviera along the Haarlemmermeer Ringvaart

To reclaim the land, the huge amount of water had to be pumped out. And since the area is below sea level, the pumping would have to be continuous to keep it dry. Traditionally, wind mills were used to pump away the water collecting in the low areas. To deal with the enormous amount, steam steam mills were used for the first time. Three Cornish beam engines were imported. One of them, the Cruquius, was the largest Watt-design reciprocal stroke steam engine ever built. The cylinder has a diameter of 3.6 m. Nevertheless, it took 4 year until the lake was dry by July 1, 1852. 800 million tons of water were actually discharged. The sale of the reclaimed land basically covered the costs.

The ideal modern garden

East of the ringvaart big plots of this reclaimed land are still used for flower bulb cultivation. However, increasingly, new housing is built on the former farm land. The municipalities prefer to attract affluent inhabitants. And they don’t want to spend money, so basically there is no investment in infrastructure. The owners in the new neighbourhoods have to rely on their cars for every single piece of shopping, for bringing their children to school or visiting a doctor because there is no public transport and the services remain concentrated in the original town centres. A typical example of cheap, short sighted and egoistic planning.

Traditional housing in Vogelenzang

On the other side of the canal, towards the dunes, is the upmarket neighbourhood of Vogelenzang. Fashionable traditional villas hide behind trees on huge plots. The former station, far too big for the few inhabitants, is converted to an upmarket restaurant, temporarily closed. Certainly these people did not need the train any more. They probably have their driver waiting for them.

Wil's front yard display

In the little village of Bennebroek a battered little car with a flag flying on a pole passes by. A bit further on, in a quiet and neat street, I notice a house hidden behind piles of rusty junk. The space in front of the house is shared by an old tractor, a red mail box, wood, wrought iron wheels and an assortment of other metal parts. While I consider the collection, the battered car with the flag pulls up and out gets Wil, the 85 year old owner of house and junk. He readily asks me in to show me his collection. First we have to stumble across a pile of wood – Wil uses the entrance of his house to cut wood for his stove, The whole ground floor of the house is filled with metal parts and pieces of bicycles. There is little space and even the kitchen is filled with scrap metal. Wil proudly presents a photo of his first bike, built in the 1930ies. In the garden, also covered with metal parts, he looks for his room-mate, a white chicken.

Wil is a fanatic believer. The flag on his car – and there is another one on the gable of his house – reads “Jesus my saviour”. He gives me his business card with his slogan

God houdt van de mensen

ik hou van ijzer

En we knappen het allebei op!

God loves people

i like iron

And we both fix it up

Back home I find an article in a newspaper of 2011 about Wil. He is not allowed to join the local church community any more since he is too fanatic. Like in a soccer game, he started yelling enthusiastically when singing songs. The other members of the church got intimidated. The church hired a security guard to keep Wil away from the church. In return, Wil filed a police report against the church.

The newspaper notes the Wil also stands out fanatically for his faith outside the church walls. 'I had a light organ in the back of my car. When I had to brake, red lights came on with the text: Jesus is alive. Awesome!'

Steam mill Cruquius

The Cruquius, the huge steam engine originally built to pump away the water of the Haarlemmermeer, is preserved and is a working museum since the end of its active service in 1933. The architects built this functional building in a neo-gotical style. Again it is surprising how much care went into the design of such a building in the 19th century. The contrast is especially apparent with the bleak office building, which some ignorant planner had built towering over the monument right next door. Unfortunately due to the Corona measures the museum is closed. But next door the garden of the nice coffee house, the former foreman’s residence, is open for the first day after many month of closure owing to Corona restriction.