Hofjes

Haarlem is one of the cities in the Netherlands that has a number of hofjes. Some of them are still in use with boards of regents. Many of these are members of the Stichting Haarlemse Hofjes. The word 'hofje' just means small garden, because the hofjes are generally small houses grouped around a community kitchen garden with a water pump. Often they were attached to a larger field for bleaching linen or growing orchards, but today those fields have been long used for city expansion and only the central gardens can still be seen.