A story to tell, Nile Geese in Clingendael A couple of Nile goose (Egyptian Goose) in a little canal, at the border with the Japanes garden. Egyptian Geese were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and appeared in much of their artwork. In the 1950ties a delegations from the Egyptian government visited The Hague, and as a gift to the minister of Foreign affairs (Joseph Luns) they handed over a number of Nile geese. A few of them where set free in the Hofvijver, next to the parliament buildings in the Hague. The others where set free in the estate park Clingendael. Next spring the first offspring could be seen in the hofvijver as well as in the park Clingedael. Now a days, a half century later, there is a dense population in the Netherlands of Nile geese; they are doing so well in the Dutch climate, and they were lucky, because in the same period of time the Dutch became more and more environmental involved. The little waters and meadows became cleaner and cleaner resulting in an increasing number of all kind of geese, and birds in general. History Estate park Clingendael The name 'Clingendael' means 'valley in the dunes'. The original part of the Clingendael building was built between 1643 and 1660 for Philip Doublet, whose family had moved to The Hague from the south of the Netherlands. Several of the Doublets held the office of Treasurer General in the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. Philip's wife was the sister of the celebrated poet and statesman, Constantijn Huygens, and Philip’s son married one of Huygens’ daughters, Suzanna. The architecture of the original part of Clingendael shares some of the features of the Huygens’s country house in Voorburg, Hofwijck. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Clingendael belonged to the Van Brienens, a prominent family of merchants and bankers. During the period of French rule in the Netherlands, Willem Joseph van Brienen was appointed Mayor of Amsterdam and elevated by Napoleon to 'Baron de l’Empire'. The last of the Van Brienens in the male line, Arnout, built a racecourse for his guests at Clingendael; it has since been moved to nearby Duindigt. Arnout’s unmarried daughter Marguérite, known as Lady Daisy, laid out Clingendael’s fine Japanese garden. During the Second World War, the house was occupied by the Nazi Reich’s Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and his family. In 1954, Clingendael became the property of the municipality of The Hague, which it remains today. Since 1983, the Clingendael Institute (the Netherlands Institute of International Relations) has been located in Huys Clingendael. Since the opening for the public, in the 1950ties, I have visited the garden very often (Sunday morning walk with my parents!!) as we did on the 22th of October 2012 again in order to taste the autumn atmosphere in the garden (unfortunately it was crowded with people, but that is from another point of view positive as well !!!), our previous visit was on the 15th of May 2012, you can find postings of this springtime visit around that date in my gallery as well. It is always a pleasure to be around this area where I spent my childhood! Thanks for viewing, and your lovely words on my previous posting, special thanks for those who earmarked the image as favorite, comments are always welcome. Have a very nice week Henk