Sissinghurst Gardens and Castle
I visited Sissinghurst on the back of Great Dixter and I was still buzzing and filled with inspiration and wonder after the most incredible and unsuspecting visit. So it was a very hard act to follow to then visit here the next day! My expectations were high and although I had been told it was very different to Great Dixter, I still couldn’t let go of the way that garden had made me feel. Sissinghurst had been on my list for awhile as many people had told me to visit. My first impressions weren’t great as we got an ice cream in a cone and we weren’t allowed to wonder the garden while eating this… Eating ice cream while wondering a beautiful garden is a rather romantic notion for me that I was looking forward to, alas, we sat outside the garden walls and finished our ice cream.
I got over my wee pity party and enetered the official entrance of Sissinghurst. Greeted with a tall and narrow castle like tower which was home to the visionary Vita Sackville-West’s writing room. Vita purchased Sissinghurst in the early 1930’s and began to transform it into the world famous destination that it is today. I loved the sign written by the head gardener as we entered that read: ‘After a Winter of hard work in the garden, the greatest reward is to witness the annual explosion of fresh green shoots. Bare soil ignites with an irresistable fecundity and a promise that is unmatched by any other season in the gardening calendar.. ‘ It was a good reminder that those cold and bare months in the garden are so important and make Spring all that more special.
“After a Winter of hard work in the garden, the greatest reward is to witness the annual explosion of fresh green shoots.”
My highlights:
The Rose Garden:
Our first area to visit was The Rose Garden, filled with all shade of pinks, purples and green with splashes of yellows and blues. Bursting with colour, fragrance and romance this garden was surrounded by brick walls covered in climbing roses, espaliered fig trees, hydrangea petiolaris (My new fav) and honey suckle. I loved walking slowly through this garden absorbing all of the different details like the figs carefully espaliered in spirals on the wall, all of the intricate planting combinations and stopping to smell the roses. I made sure to come back through this garden so I walk through it again and take in the things I missed the first time around.
The Vegetable Garden:
Something very important to note is that the vegetable garden is not on the main map and the only reason I knew it existed was because of my lovely hosts Sheila and Charlie who told me about it and said I must find it and visit. Make sure you go to the vegetable garden, it is through the big brick wall arch way when you aren’t actually in the paid area any more (As pictured). I am so glad I did find it as it was a really inspiring area and such an important part of the whole complex. They grow a lot of food there for the cafe and they have a big team of about 20 volunteers that help keep it going. They have trial gardens with things like Okra, Eggplants and Quinoa growing outside to test them in the ever changing climate of today. They had huge wild flower and beneficial insect planting areas. Incredible pea trellises made from silver birch branches all tangled together. The no dig method was an integral part of the vegetable garden and they had signs about things like this or any other noteworthy things they were doing so you could read them as you wandered. A very impressive and expansive vegetable garden that gave me some inspiration for my own.
Vita’s tower:
This tower is tall and narrow, with small winding steps inside leading up to not only this panoramic view of the entire estate but Vita’s writing room. It gave me such a wee buzz and sparked some creativety in me to share more of my experiences through writing. I felt inspired after seeing this room and it made me want to set up a little space of my own where I could get my words down (not on paper any more like Vita’s time) but to share them and journal my experiences in an authentic way. I have never enjoyed writing because I scrutenise over what I am saying and wanting to deliver it in an articulate way. However, after visiting somewhere like here and Great Dixter, I am just going to share my writing in an informal and journaled manner and let what ever comes to mind go.
The views from up here are surreal and it’s a peaceful spot to just stop and take it all in. Highly recommend going up the tower, even if it is just for the view and you’re not that interested in Vita’s wrting room.
The White Garden:
The most infamous part of the garden I would say. I over heard a tour guide of a group say ‘The white garden has been re created all over the world’. It certainly is effective, masses of white surrounded by green hedges and silvery green foliage. The beds are contained by buxus hedges, with frothy and whimsical white goodness spilling out of them. There are some small weeping ornamental pears in there tying in the white with the green. I did really love walking around this garden and would love to see it in the Autumn too. I made sure that I came to walk around it a second time to tak eit all in. I loved the small details of this garden, the hand made fences with little branches were very cool.
Overall:
A wonderful garden to visit and one you should definietly make an effort to see it if you are over here. I made a special trip to Hawkhurst and stayed there for a few days to visit Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Water Lane. There is so much detail in all of the gardens and it was an inspiring garden. I will be taking ideas from each of my favourite areas home to my own garden in NZ.
General information:
I visited in May so it was late Spring. It was a Sunday so very busy, probably thousands of people there.
I would recommend going on a week day to try and avoid so many people as it would be more relaxing to wander.
Although there were hundreds of cars there, it necessarily feel like there were that many in the garden but would be much better with less people.
The parking was really good and they had heaps of overflow space if needed. T
here is a cafe there that looked lovely and a gift shop too. Just note if you get an ice cream you can’t wander the garden with it haha.
It’s not an overly big garden, I was there for about 2 hours and felt like I had a really good look around. But there is a big walk around the outside which is on the map if you are wanting to do something like that too.
Website: Sissinghurst Castle and Gardens
Address: Biddenden Rd, Cranbrook TN17 2AB, United Kingdom