The Midlands Dahlia Society

Trip to Holland 15th - 18th September 08
Trip Report & Photos

30 people joined Dave Reid for the trip, by coach via Dover and P&O ferry, to Volendam, a fishing village on the Zuider Zee, north - east of Amsterdam.

Itinerary:

Mon 15th Sept.     Due to the fire in the Channel Tunnel the pick up was at 4.30am from Kenilworth ( and even earlier from the other pick up points!)
After a days travelling, with a very calm channel crossing, we arrived at the hotel in Volendam at 5.00pm local time, where the hotel gave us a nice drinks reception.

Tues 16th  started with an 8.30 am visit to FloraHolland at Aalsmeer - the biggest flower auction of its kind - described as the 9th wonder of the world.

We then went to visit one of the two remaining Delft Pottery factories. We had a very informative talk about how the pottery is made.

In the picture can be seen the pottery being painted by hand. Interestingly all the women were left handed!  It is only in recent times that the 'real' Delft pottery has had official recognition including trade marks.

Tues afternoon- the highlight of the visit was to Geerlings Nursery. We were made very welcome by Cor Geerlings and his son Jan. To see more photos click on the photo.

Next we went to Lisse to see cnb - a Dutch dahlia trade display.  This is a co - operative of many growers who raise Dahlias for the supermarket and retail trade world wide.  They also were showing Callas - see the foreground in the photo.  It is aimed more at the cut flower and wholesale trade rather than exhibition Dahlias seen at Geerlings.

Tues Evening was spent either having a meal at the hotel or in Volendam.