A couple of months ago I applied for, and won, two tickets to visit Sissinghurst Castle in the ‘My Big Kent Weekend’ draw. Sissinghurst was the home of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson for about 30 years, and they are responsible for the beautiful gardens.
Farm buildings
The view over the Weald of Kent
The Gatehouse
I last visited Sissinghurst a long time ago, and the gardens and tower are as lovely as I remember, even in March. I would love to go back in the summer to see the gardens in full flower, but I do know that it is a very popular tourist destination, and it gets very busy in the summer. The meadow covered in Spring flowers was just gorgeous.
My friend and I had a lovely afternoon wandering around the beautiful gardens, and going inside the Gatehouse Tower, where the couple had a very pretty, but snug sitting room. The views from the tower are lovely, but it would have been nice to have got right up to the top of the tower, as you can see there was work going on up there.
There used to be an Elizabethan moated house on the site, but the building was demolished about 200 years ago, leaving the Gatehouse and the attached buildings. Apart from the formal gardens there are beautiful woodland walks surrounding the castle, and even though the trees were bare we enjoyed the walk, even if we were the only ones in that area.
We both had a lovely day, there are a few other beautiful places to visit in the same area, so hopefully we will get to some of those later in the year. I hope everyone is having a really good weekend
The Cottage
I could sit here and enjoy the view any time
Beautiful. I've always wanted to go to Sissinghurst, so it's on our *Is it possible to get there one day ?* list !! :o)
ReplyDeleteI think you would be ok Pat, although there are a few steps around the place, there is also a side gate, which is probably for disabled access, contact them before you go :) It really is beautiful, as I said I would love to re-visit in the summer, the world famous White Garden was totally bare, but I am sure it would be spectacular in bloom :) x
Deletethe towers are beautiful as are the gardens and grounds, but i especially liked those really cool farm buildings! :)
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know the buildings shown are oast houses, the farm is a Victorian addition and not open to the public. Glad you enjoyed the photos :)
DeleteWhat lovely photos,glad you had a great time I like the use of the tree stump as a compass and the oast house is great, a nice place to visit.
ReplyDeletePeter
Lovely Poppy what a smashing day out did I see bluebells there somewhere? I know what you mean to see and to take it all in wonderful. Lovely place thanks for sharing. Hugs Sheila hope the week ahead is kind to you. Hugs xx
ReplyDeleteI'm always amazed by the fact that what's considered to be an old building here (300 or so years at the most) wold be considered a fairly new structure in the UK. Enjoyed the visit, Poppy!
ReplyDeleteGreat series of beautiful photos.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you won the tickets.
Thanks for sharing from this wonderful place.
Wish you a wonderful weekend.
Mette
I read that the tower is Elizabethan and from other Tudor buildings I've seen, I get a sense of ease and confidence in the buildings of the time, that you don't get this side of the border.
ReplyDeleteLiked the oast houses too - we don't have those either. Great pictures - looked like a good day out.
Beautiful place and lovely scenery! Thanks for taking us all with you on this trip...it was awesome! :)
ReplyDelete