Ironing, linen and textiles in Oegstgeest
Oegstgeest is the oldest village in the Bollenstreek — already mentioned in 866 — and from the seventeenth century onwards developed as a refined country-estate village along the Oude Rijn. Estates such as Rhijnhof, Oud-Poelgeest (once home to Herman Boerhaave), Oegstgeestse Hoeve and De Klinkenberg stood on extensive grounds with their own households. Boerhaave, professor of medicine in Leiden, lived at Oud-Poelgeest until his death in 1738, and brought the linen housekeeping of the university city's elite to a country house.
An Oegstgeest estate worked to a particular rhythm. Each month brought the great wash, with the estate's own washerwomen working in tubs out in the yard. The linen was rinsed in the Rhine, dried in the orchard, and finished by two or three resident maids who were busy with it for a whole week. In Oegstgeest a sub-culture grew up of household staff who, after their years in service, set up independently as neighbourhood ironers, with customers from both the village and the city.
Oegstgeest is now a tidy municipality with many post-war villas, modern districts such as Nieuw-Rhijngeest and Poelgeest, and many commuters towards Leiden and The Hague. The appreciation for neatly finished textiles runs deep.
Since 2013 we have been driving from our laundry on the Henricuskade through Oegstgeest on fixed mornings. Laundry bag collected, washed, ironed, returned — same driver.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Oegstgeest?
For residents of Oegstgeest our service works exactly as in the rest of Haaglanden: on a fixed day of the week our driver comes by, picks up your laundry bag and brings your laundry back clean and crisply ironed. No appointment needed — your routine is set.
You get one regular driver and a fixed pickup rhythm so you always know what to expect. No carrying, no full drying racks in the living room, no evenings at the ironing board.
Everything is handled in our own laundry on Henricuskade in The Hague. Shirts, blouses, table linen, bed and bath textiles — we iron it the way it should go back into the cupboard at home, neatly folded and ready to use.