For the third year running, Tulips for Tapping has delighted visitors from right across the country. And it's raised a substantial amount of money for a local hospice in the process. The annual event sees a large tulip field opened up for the public to come along and see the rainbow of colours, as well as getting some pretty amazing photos.
Tulips for Tapping raises money from The Norfolk Hospice Tapping House, a local hospice which is just down the road from the tulip fields. The hospice provide a vital service to people in West Norfolk by giving free support to those nearing the end of their lives as well as their family and friends.
Each year, the field is in a slightly different place and the location is kept a secret, except for those lucky enough to get a ticket. This year, 15,000 tickets were all sold within under two hours of them going live on the site. All of the money raised at the event goes to the hospice.
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Lindsey Atkin, community and corporate fundraising manager at the Norfolk Hospice said: "This is the third year that we’ve run this event in conjunction with Belmont Nurseries who are local tulip growers in our area. They approached us about opening up the tulip fields in 2020. They were having problems with trespassers on their fields and people wanting to see the tulips and get some good photos.
"These are the sights that you would usually go to Holland for so we thought that if we could open the fields in a controlled way, we would be able to alleviate their issues of people coming into the fields and also provide an opportunity for the hospice to do some fundraising.
"This is a really high profile event for us, not only are the local news interested but the national news as well and that’s absolutely brilliant for us in terms of raising awareness for the hospice. The event is also really good for us in recruiting volunteers. A lot of the people that are working here are volunteers, and we need volunteers in all areas of work that we do at the hospice. So events like this are useful for us in finding people that may be willing to help us again in the future."
The Tulips for Tapping season may be over for this year, but there is no doubt that it will be making a return in spring 2024. There were an estimated 100,000 people attempting to buy tickets when the site went live.
Mark Eves, director of P S & J E Ward Ltd. Belmont Nurseries is one of those responsible for planting the tulip bulbs. It's a vital job as they have to be planted in a specific way to make them accessible to the public. And without Mark and his team, there would be no tulips to visit.
He said: "We’ve always had tulip fields about the Norfolk countryside for more than 20 years now and we got to the point where I felt we could make some money and help somebody so that’s how it all started. Then when I met Lindsey, it escalated from there and slowly but surely it has grown and grown.
"We’re now in our third year and every year we’re amazed by the people that visit in number and the demand, it’s just unbelievable. I’m just doing my job really but it’s awe-inspiring and gives so much pleasure to so many people and that’s brilliant really."
A lot of work has to be done to ensure the tulips are looking their best when the fields open. They are only perfectly in bloom for a short amount of time which is why the field is only open for one week.
Mark added: "Tulips grow quite well here but there’s quite a lot involved. They’re quite an involved crop and quite a high input crop as well. You have to be very on the ball. I’m constantly in the fields and I walk the fields at least once a week if not more. It depends on the time of year but even in the winter months when they’re underneath the ground we’re still walking and managing the crop."
Lindsey said: "The tulips really are beautiful and it is a site that you really can’t grasp from photos or images on the TV. Seeing them in person is something really different and it is the only place in the UK where you can do this. We are the only field of this size open to the public in the UK so if you don’t come here to see us then the only other place to go is Holland."
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