Sissinghurst, that iconic garden, is only a 90 minute drive from us, but it’s been at least 4 years since the last visit, so on one of those beautifully, bright autumn days last week, we finally made a return visit.
Unlike other famous gardens, Sissinghurst isn’t a conventional house surrounded by land, & despite being called Sissinghurst Castle Garden, there isn’t a castle, but a series of cottages. At it’s heart is a tall tower, dating from the 1560’s. The tower holds the design of the garden together, visible like an elegant orientation beacon, from every part of the garden.
Vita Sackville-West & her husband Harold Nicolson were from privileged, aristocratic families, after much searching they found Sissinghurst, moving there in 1932 & began to make a garden.
Their lives, backgrounds & creativity are what brought this unique garden into existence. Harold’s part in designing the garden is often overlooked, he designed the strong layout that contains the garden rooms, while Vita was the plantswomen, making a perfect combination.
She is well-known for her novels & wrote a gardening column for The Observer newspaper for 15 years, he was a diplomat, M.P. & writer. There’s was an unconventional marriage, they both had same-sex relationships throughout, but were always close, writing to each other every day when apart.
Their creative lifestyle is reflected in the garden, & how they used the buildings. Whilst their children lived in another cottage nearby, Vita & Harold occupied South Cottage, a modest home filled with books. It has a large flower room instead of a kitchen, indicating a life with staff who organise meals elsewhere, which left me wondering about how you’d get a cup of tea in the morning? Vita’s study was in the tower, where apparently, children were discouraged from visiting.
Happily South Cottage is open to the public, the tower is also open, & although you can’t enter the rooms, the climb to the top is essential for wonderful panoramic views of the garden & beyond.
There was a colourful display of michaelmas daisies planted in the lime walk, whole swathes of different shades, though unlabelled. They’ve recently been reclassified, some are still called asters while others are known as Symphiotrichum.
Asters in the lime walk
The white garden, the pergola is covered in white roses in summer.
Cobea scandens Alba in the white garden
If you’re a keen gardener, Sissinghurst is a great example of how to divide a garden into different spaces, & has many winning plant combinations. Though you would need a small army of gardeners to keep it looking good.
Find out about visiting Sissinghurst here & more about michaelmas daisies name change here.
The autumn colours are coming into their own round here, I hope you enjoy the rest of this glorious month.
Jill
all photos: Jill Anderson.
A lovely post, thank you.
Hi Nicola, thanks I’m glad you liked it. It is a wonderful place, we should get there more often!
One of my favorite places anywhere! Was there in early September and it was glorious, especially the dahlias!! Someday…a return visit.
It must have been lovely in September, I hope you can make a return visit one day! …. spring would be a wonderful time.
This was lovely to read especially as I am not likely to visit there in the near future.
Hello Julie, thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve just joined the National Trust so Sissinghurst is on my garden visit list for next year. October must be a good time to go, it looks like you were the only ones there! I smiled at your comment about there being no castle at Sissinghurst Castle; it was the same on a recent GMG visit to Lullingstone Castle (an excellent garden to visit btw) – again, no castle but an impressive entry arch. Caro x
There were very few people there, avoid weekends if you can, its so busy then! I’m sure you’ll make great use of your membership, there are so many lovely N.T. gardens. Jill x