Sissinghurst Castle has been home to pigs and paupers, hosted royalty and nobility, and welcomed thousands of visitors – all of whom are charmed by the romantic legacy bound up in the legendary gardens.
Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, now run by the National Trust, is at the heart of ‘the Garden of England’, and indeed it boasts one of the very best gardens in the county, thanks to the horticultural vision and dedication of celebrated writer and poet Vita Sackville-West and her diplomat husband Harold Nicolson.
More than 188,000 visitors flock here each year to marvel at the rambling roses buzzing with bees, admire the scented thyme lawns, enjoy the dreamy white-flower garden, and explore the traditional English nuttery.
![The magnificent red brick, dual-turreted tower that rises at the centre of the gardens remains as a reminder of this period of Tudor grandeur](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Siss.jpg)
![Through a low wooden door into the south-west corner of the garden is the walled Rose Garden](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/Rose-Garden-at-Sissinghurst-Castle-Garden-©National-Trust-Images-Jonathan-Buckley.jpg)
![Harold and Vita (who had a gardening column in The Observer newspaper) were engrossed in the creation of the garden](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/159450.jpg)
![The majority of the garden is orchard: a meadow of wild grass, peppered with clover and buttercups](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/June-at-Sissinghurst-Castle-Garden-©National-Trust-Images-Jonathan-Buckley.jpg)
![In-the-Orchard-at-dawn,-Sissinghurst-©National-Trust-Images](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/In-the-Orchard-at-dawn-Sissinghurst-©National-Trust-Images.jpg)
![The White Garden is said to be the most popular garden and features flowers of exclusively white, silver or green hues](https://www.britain-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/The-White-Garden-at-Sissinghurst-credit-National-Trust-Images-Jonathan-Buckley.jpg)
For our full feature on Sissinghurst, please see the new issue of BRITAIN magazine, on sale next week.
Related articlesScottish gardens on a grand scale |
Click here to subscribe!![]() |