DUTCH delights

Celebrate spring with flowers, windmills and street parties delights

- CHRIS MORLEY

Spring in the Netherlands sees the colour dial turned up to 11, with patchworked fields blanketed in flowers. The show starts in March with crocuses, followed by daffodils and hyacinths. Then tulips erupt into a profusion of candy-bright colours from mid-April.

Mega market

For another flower-filled experience, this time with added drama, take a tour of the world’s biggest flower auction, Aalsmeer. Located near to Schiphol airport, from where Dutch flowers are flown all over the world, it takes place in a huge warehouse, with visitors given a bird’s-eye view of the action via an elevated walkway. Every day, 35 million plants pass through the auction, with bidding fast and furious. Best suited to early-risers – it begins at 6am.

King’s Day