Ironing, linen and textiles in Bleiswijk
Bleiswijk is an old peat village, founded in the twelfth century, and for centuries a village living off cattle and flax. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, flax was grown on the Bleiswijk polders — the long greenish-blue plant that, after retting, scutching and hackling, could be spun into flax ribbon. Some of that ribbon was processed in the village itself: Bleiswijk women spun the flax on domestic wheels into yarn, and the yarn was sent on to weavers in Twente or Flanders.
A house that processed its own flax also produced its own linen: rough working linen for everyday use, softer 'pels' linen for the bed, fine Dutch linen for the Sunday best. The art of ironing in such a household was not optional; the Sunday shirt had to look as if it had only just come out of the chest. A Bleiswijk grandmother could iron a shirt without leaving a crease at the shoulder — a skill known throughout the surrounding villages.
Bleiswijk is now part of Lansingerland, with greenhouse horticulture as its principal industry. The Bleiswijk Tuinbouwveiling Rotterdam (BVR) is the largest sweet-pepper cluster in Europe. Many younger families live in Merenwijk and around the station, alongside an old core with the Dorpsstraat and the Hervormde Dorpskerk.
Since 2013 we have been driving from our laundry on the Henricuskade through Bleiswijk on fixed mornings. We collect your laundry, iron everything, and deliver it back with the same driver.
How does Strijkservice Haaglanden work in Bleiswijk?
For residents of Bleiswijk 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.