Our friends, Will and Carla, were over here from California. Will has created his own ‘Ideas’ garden over some years and is very knowledgeable on an enormous variety of plants, so it wasn’t difficult to make a decision about where to take them for a day out in the English countryside. I was very excited also because John and I hadn’t been to Sissinghurst – former home of Vita Sackville-West and her husband, Harold Nicolson, who created the gardens there in the 1930s – for many years.
Parking is in a field and the reception is ‘manned’ by lovely Kentish women volunteers, who all gave us an extremely warm welcome. There are different parts of the gardens, which revolve around the towers in the centre, where Vita made her study. The roses weren’t quite in bloom yet but there was plenty to enjoy, including the largest and most exotic paeonies I have ever seen for real. I wish I could grow them at home but I think they need an open aspect, with lots of sunshine. And we were blessed with sunshine at Sissinghurst on that Sunday. And also with the sound of many bees, a jar of whose honey came home with us.
Sissinghurst
In the pink…paeonies 1
In the pink… paeonies too
Exotic paeonies grace the ‘white’ garden
Under the tree where Carla had an afternoon nap
The Kentish ladies also offer a delicious lunch in beautiful rustic wood surroundings. While Carla became the sleeping beauty, the rest of us explored the library and climbed to the top of the tower. Although there were quite a lot of visitors, the soporific humming of bees added to the tranquillity and beauty of this historic and very personal place. I felt I could have come upon Vita tending to her paeonies, pruning in the nuttery or writing an article on gardening at her desk. It’s a very idiosyncratic garden, a haven created with much love and talent. Well worth a visit.
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