Sissinghurst garden and castle

 To get an English garden fix, our friend took us for a drive to Kent to Sissinghurst garden. This was the home of Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicholson, who created the heritage listed garden in the 1930s. He designed the garden 'rooms' and she did the planting. The 
tower has been used as a prison for French sailors in the 1700s and a home to the women’s land army in WWII. The buildings in the background with the white pointy tops are old oast houses used for drying hops.

Views of the house and grounds. The tower rooms were where Vita used to write, and the story is that no-one went in there except her - even her family weren't allowed. She was an interesting character.









Left - The 'viewers' as seen from the top of the tower.

Right & below -  The view from the top of the tower of the garden 'rooms'. We had a glorious day for strolling around, collecting ideas for our own gardens, then lunch in the pub.

Seen today:
Narrow country lanes; Wooden pillars holding up a pergola; espaliered trees, like figs and apple trees; old fashioned fruit - quince and pears.
John's favourite were the 570mm wide oak floorboards.