April 23, 2024:
We made our way from Canterbury next to Sissinghurst Castle Garden, this “best garden in England”, via a 54-minute lovely drive through a scenic countryside, particularly sprinkled with “rapeseed” golden fields.
“Rapeseed Field” near Maidstone on the way to Sissinghurst
Though not a particularly nice day (dreary sky, cold weather), we were still very pleased with our visit to Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Expecting “traditional” English manicured and trimmed gardens (with rows of hedges, manicured flower beds, etc.), we were pleasantly surprised to see “beautiful” English gardens sprawled over several acres, filled with jumbles of statues and flowers, that you could spend all day exploring and enjoying…
Sissinghurst Castle Garden – flowers are everywhere
Background of Sissinghurst
Sissinghurst is more than just a garden. It is also the story of the interesting couple who built this place, author Victoria “Vita” Sackville-West and her husband diplomat-writer Harold Nicholson, told through exhibits and tours through the couple’s cottage, long library, and writing desks (hers in the Tower, his in the Cottage).
Vita’s writing desk in the Tower
Harold Nicholson’s writing desk in the South Cottage
Photo: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/harold-nicolsons-writing-desk-in-south-cottage-220399
Their story, which began at Sissinghurst in 1930, is an interesting one. The couple had an unconventional open marriage to say the least. Apparently Harold courted Vita for 18 months, during which, according to Vita, the wooing was entirely chaste, and that they did not even kiss. Vita’s parents were opposed to their marriage, on the grounds that “penniless” Nicholson had an annual income of only £250.
Harold Nicholson
Victoria ‘Vita’ Sackville-West
Both Sackville-West and her husband had same-sex relationships before and during their marriage, as did some of the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists, with whom they had connections. Sackville-West saw herself as psychologically divided into two: one side of her personality was more feminine, soft, submissive, and attracted to men while the other side was more masculine, hard, aggressive, and attracted to women. In 1927, Sackville-West had an affair with Mary Garman, a member of the Bloomsbury Group; between 1929 and 1931, she maintained a relationship with Hilda Matheson, head of the BBC Talks Department. In 1931, Sackville-West was in a ménage à trois with journalist Evelyn Irons and Irons’s lover, Olive Rinder. Irons had interviewed Sackville-West after her novel The Edwardians had become a best-seller.
The Bloomsbury Group
Following the pattern of his father’s career, Harold Nicholson was at various times a diplomat, journalist, broadcaster, Member of Parliament, and author of biographies and novels. Vita was a prizewinning author and poet, and a lover of Virginia Woolf (among others). Her journals about their relationship (and her love affair with Violet Keppel) were published – after her death – as Portrait of a Marriage, which also became a BBC/PBS miniseries.
Virginia Woolf – 1927
Sissinghurst was an Elizabethan ruin and the creation of the gardens would be a joint labour of love of the couple that would last many decades, first entailing years of clearing debris from the land. Nicholson provided the architectural structure, with strong classical lines, which would frame his wife’s innovative informal planting schemes.
Harold and Vita in their garden – Photo by Cecil Beaton.
Vita created a new and experimental system of enclosures or rooms, such as the White Garden, Rose Garden, Orchard, Cottage Garden and Nuttery. She also innovated single colour-themed gardens and design principles orientating the visitors’ experience to discovery and exploration.The gardens were opened to the public in 1938. Their descendents still own and live on part of the estate, and assist in its management.
Map of Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Key: A – Priest’s House, Erechtheum and White Garden; B – Delos; C – Top Courtyard, West Range and Purple Border; D – Entrance; E – Tower and Lower Courtyard; F – Yew Walk; G – Orchard; H – Rose Garden; I – South Cottage and Cottage Garden; J – Moat Walk and Azaleas; K – Nuttery; L –Herb Garden; M – Lime Walk. The top of the map points north-northeast, and the area shown is about 5 acres.
Cost and Hours – £17, includes tour of South Cottage; open daily 11 am – 5:30 pm, pay parking – £4, café, plant shop; +44 1580 710 700; www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst-castle-garden.
From the parking lot, head down the path to buy your ticket.
Going down the path to buy our ticket
Oast House – Then go into the cone-roofed oast house (which was used for drying hops; these are typical of the Kent region). Here you’ll find introductory exhibits about the development, disintegration, and rebirth of the estate – which was originally built in the 1530s, but had fallen into disrepair.
The Oast House – sorry for the hazy picture – not a clear day
The Cowl – top of the Oast House
Gatehouse – Enter the grounds through a gatehouse, with more exhibits inside – including a good introductory video, and information about the Mediterranean-style “Delos Garden” that was only recently rebuilt to fulfill a dream of Vita and Harold.
The Gatehouse
Long Library (The “Big Room”) – Inside the gatehouse’s library wing (to the left, filling the former stables), a portrait of Vita hangs over the fireplace, along with paintings of other family members, some of whom still live on the property.
The Long Library – “The Big Room”
Portrait of Victoria (Vita) Sackville-West (age 18) – in the Long Library (“The Big Room”)
The Castle – Formerly a vast and grand affair – the castle has mostly disappeared, but an Elizabethan tower still stands tall.
The Elizabethan Castle Tower
Climbing the Tower – We climbed the tower (78 steps up) to view the garden and orchard from above, viewing Vita’s Writing Room on the way up.
Vita’s Writing Room in the Tower
Views from the top of the Tower
Exhibits in the Tower
Visiting the Various Gardens – We then climbed down the Tower and started our visit to the interlocking gardens (it was hard to tell where one garden started and another ended). We used the map below to attempt to determine where we were.
Sissinghurst Gardens
Every area feels alike and yet different: the Herb Garden, fragrant and colorful; the White Garden, a two-tone masterpiece (all white and green); Harold’s Lime Walk, beyond the cottage, with tidy rows of trees planted with tulips.
Rose Garden
Cottage Garden
Harold’s Lime Walk
Delos Garden
Herb Garden
White Garden
Moat Walk
Rondel
The Gardens
South Cottage – Tucked behind the tower, the postcard-perfect South Cottage – where Harold and Vita lived (and which is still owned and sometimes used by their descendants) – is typically open to a limited number of visitors on guided tours. To secure a space on a guided tour, pick up a free, timed ticket at the cottage kitchen. A chatty docent will lead you on a fascinating, quirky, gossipy, intimate tour through the quarters of this larger-than-life couple.
South Cottage Sitting Room
Priest’s House – To the north is the Priest’s House – The architectural historian John Newman suggests that this building was a “viewing pavilion or lodge”. Its name derives from the tradition that it was used to house a Catholic priest, the previous residents, the Baker family, having been Catholic adherents. Sackville-West and Nicholson converted the house to provide accommodation for their sons, and the family kitchen and dining room. It is now open for overnight guests.
The Priest’s House
We’ve finished our tour of Sissinghurst Castle Garden. Hopefully next time we come, we’ll have a clearer, sunny day (at least it wasn’t raining)…