Amsterdam: Open Garden Days

Canal houses face the street and have no front garden. But did you know that secluded gardens lie hidden behind these house?

These are surprisingly large. They were mainly decorative gardens and meant to be looked at not to sit in or to work in. Gardeners kept them in shape. The flowers, plants and trees had to look their best in the winter months because this was the time of year that the owners lived in their town houses. The rest of the year they enjoyed life in their countryside manor. Today most canal house gardens have maintained the 17th century lay-out, but these days they look good both in winter and summer

These canal house gardens are so large that there is a coach house at the back. These gardens create a vast green space inside each block of houses, enclosed on four sides and invisible from the street. Many of the big trees in the gardens are hundreds of years old and listed as heritage monuments, meaning they cannot be chopped down.

WHAT: Open Tuinen Dagen, Open Garden Days
WHEN: Friday 18 June, Saturday 19 June and Sunday 20 June.
WHAT: Thirty private canal house garden are open to the public

BUY TICKETS FROM THESE MUSEUMS
Bijbels Museum, Herengracht 366 (map)
Huis Marseille, Keizersgracht 401 (map)
Museum van Loon, Keizersgracht 672 (map)
Museum Willet-Holthuysen, Keizersgracht 605 (map)

photo credit: Moritz Bernoully @ flickr