Bassie's Farm as a Toreador

This is the location of the Van Vliet family farm. Initially, it was thought that this farm was somewhere else. But the right farm was, as the Baron so beautifully put it, "discovered by me by chance"

While I was unsuspectingly taking some beautiful photos of two B&A locations in Vlaardingen, an older man walked by. I greeted the man in a friendly manner and he asked me what I was photographing. I told the man, named Klaas, that I was taking photos for the B&A locations.

The man thought it was beautiful and proudly started telling me that B&A had once taken pictures on the farm, where his lovely wife Corry was born and raised. My first thought was, could the man be talking about the farm from the plague? And what is it he started telling about cows and an egg etc.

When I asked Klaas where this farm was, I was immediately asked to walk with him to his house, where son Pieter and wife Corry were also present to have a chat. Because the more enthusiastic I became, the more enthusiastic Klaas became.

Beautiful anecdotes passed by. About how Bas was unable to milk the cow and that her brother sat behind the cow and did the milking. And that the egg that Bas got on his head, was pushed off a beam by the same man and it looked like the chicken dropped it.

Then it was the turn of the photos of the now extensively renovated farm. Which were still proudly framed and hanging in the hallway. After I had taken some pictures of this with permission from Klaas and Corry, I asked if it would be a problem if I took a few pictures at the location itself. Whereupon the 89 year old Klaas jumped up like a young doe and shouted "I'll call them to tell them you're coming"

No sooner said than done, I got in the car and headed for Schipluiden. When I got there, I was kindly welcomed by farmer Nico and his wife Corine. They proudly told me where the barns used to be, where the hayloft was, and how B&A had ended up at the farm of this family. It turned out that none other than Piet van der Kooij had grown up a little further away, and he regularly visited the farm of the Van Vliet family as a child.

Farmer Nico and his wife told me that only the house and the roof of the hayloft still existed and that the rest of the buildings had been demolished and replaced due to the growth of the company. The canopy has been moved and now serves as a canopy above the trampoline.

It was also absolutely no problem to take some pictures on the farm.

I was asked to make an appeal to respect the privacy of these people, because there are guard dogs and such on the premises, who were inside for the occasion, but otherwise could attack any visitors.

Found by Maurice van Oort

With great thanks to: Klaas, Corry, Pieter, Nico and Corine.