Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: zuid holland

Dutch polder landscape in the Alblasserwaard with a couple of windmills. Picture taken along the Tiendweg nearby Streefkerk.

Five of the nineteen windmills in the so called Nederwaard. The famous mills at Kinderdijk were built between 1738 and 1740, to keep water out of the polder. It is the largest concentration of windmills in the Netherlands.

Ice skating along the windmills of Kinderdijk during a real Dutch winter. (picture taken with a Rollei Prego 90 > scanned)

Dune and Bulb Region (Duin- en Bollenstreek): Dutch as it can be with blooming orange tulips on one of the many fields nearby the famous 'De Keukenhof'.

Castle Keukenhof (as the famous garden) has a rich history. The area was part of Teylingen Castle, where during the 15th century game was hunted and food collected in the woods and dunes for the kitchen of the castle (‘Keukenhof’ got its name, which means ‘kitchen courtyard’ in Dutch). The castle was constructed in 1642 by Adriaen Maertenszoon Block, a former Commander of the V.O.C. (United East Indian Company) and is connected to the success of Holland’s Golden Age. The house was initially intended as a country retreat, where the family could spend the summer months. Block slowly expanded the property and even became the biggest landowner in the area. In the following centuries the estate kept growing. Castle Keukenhof is one of the few surviving country estates on Hollands west coast. In the mid-19th century a rich noble family from The Hague bought the estate and transformed the house into 'the castle' in its present condition. Castle Keukenhof is located across the entrance of the world famous Keukenhof, garden and flower exposition.

The Sint Catharijnekerk (also called Grote Kerk) was intended to become the largest church in the Holland region, but was never completed. The construction began in 1417, but in 1456 there was a major fire and twenty five years later they ran out of money and the construction of the church stopped; only the nave and tower were completed. Originally it was a roman catholic church, but in the year of 1572 the parish became in Protestant hands. Despite its use by the protestants, the church is often called by its catholic name Sint Catherijnekerk (St. Catharine Church). The Sint Catharijnekerk has quite a relationship with the House of Orange-Nassau. In the year of 1575 Willem van Oranje (William of Orange) married with Charlotte de Bourbon. And in 1688 Mary Stuart waved her husband Stadtholder William III goodbye from the tower, when he left for England to be crowned. Brielle still can be recognized from far away by the 57 meter high, truncated tower of the Sint-Catharijnekerk. In the older days - when Brielle was a major seaport - the tower also was used as a lighthouse.

The famous windmills of Kinderdijk on a rainy morning.

Bulb and Dune Region: tulips in the Netherlands.