IT IS just 50 square metres, yet the White Garden at Sissinghurst, in Kent, is the most visited garden in England – and indeed one of the most famous in the world.
The garden was created by the diplomat and author Sir Harold Nicolson and his aristocratic wife the Honorable Victoria Mary Sackville-West. The couple, both gay, seem like characters straight from the theatre of English eccentrics and their rambling old house in deepest Kent, was their stage.
Vita, as she was known to friends, was a poet, novelist, and garden designer. In her day she was an award winning author but today she is remembered for the garden. :
Vita, who wanted to move to the country found the decrepit Elizabethan mansion with its towering ‘castle’ and 400 acres of land in 1930. The couple moved in and enjoyed a bohemian lifestyle which included entertaining their various lovers from time to time. Vita was much admired by Virginia Woolf, with whom she had a brief affair and who modelled her novel Orlando on her.
Despite their sexual differences, the couple created the famous gardens as a memento of their love. The formal designs were made by Sir Harold while Vita added the romantic planting.
You can enjoy the echoes of that bygone age in a Tudor cottage called the Priest’s House which was once the family’s kitchen and dining room and is now a holiday let.
The beamed cottage is a masterclass in nook and cranny architecture but what is really special is that the master bedroom looks directly over the White Garden with its box hedged beds and central pergola over which rambles the famous Rosa mulliganii.
But while the White Garden is smaller than its reputation would lead you to expect, it’s far from easy to look after. The rose which rambles so elegantly over the gazebo giving the impression of nonchalant grace is something that takes days to create.
”The rose is retrained yearly and it takes three to four days,” says head gardener, Alexis Datta who commands eight full time gardeners, a troupe of volunteers and a group whose sole function is to dead head roses.
The arts of rose pruning are revealed to the public in early spring when the favorites of Vita Sackville-West such as Charles de Mills and Cardinal de Richelieu are pruned and trained to within an inch of their lives –a philosophy described simply as “treat them mean, keep them keen”. But the best time to visit is June, when the roses are in bloom.
Sissinghurst’s casual elegance is a dream for the average homeowner but the elements, a series of ‘rooms’ created from the remaining walls of the old house and linked by hedges, walks and borders – have entered the garden vernacular. Garden rooms have enjoyed a renaissance – just look around the Chelsea Flower Show.. At least one of the ‘rooms’ at Sissinghurst could be re-created by a decent amateur, and this is the Herb Garden.
Herbs are wonderfully tolerant. They don’t mind poor soil, they survive drought and many are hardy. By their nature they resist pests. They can look weedy, being basically wild flowers, and grown next to highly cultivated specimens, they will look about as smart as Kate Moss does next to the Queen. However, given sufficient structure, box hedging, interesting pathways; benches, pergolas, a fountain or birdbath, a herb garden will look and smell lovely and give colour for much of the year. And if you can use the plants for seasoning, or in home made preparations for the skin, eyes, hair and general digestion so much the better. It was not Vita’s intention to grow herbs for the kitchen – if she has wanted to do that the Herb Garden would have been next to the Priest’s House but in fact it’s a way off through a rather wild orchard down by the moat. Vita cultivated herbs mainly for historical reasons.
Today the Nicholsons’ grandson Adam and his wife, gardener Sarah Raven have returned to live at Sissinghurst. They would like to bring back some of the wild romanticism that lay at the heart of the estate – and get the farm up and running to supply the restaurant. The National Trust, which likes things clean and tidy, is not quite sure about the plans, or the mud.
Some years ago a BBC documentary followed their life in the remaining wing of the Elizabethan mansion where they open their curtains most days to see thousands of visitors traipsing around the lawns. They are not alone. The National Trust has 370 holiday cottages ranging from Grade I mansions to “shacks on a lake”. Some, like the Priest’s House at Sissinghurst, are particularly suited to garden lovers. So whether you want to learn all about gardens, ramble about an old orchard reading Hamlet, or just play the grande dame, they will certainly have something for you.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, Sissinghurst, nr Cranbrook, Kent Tel: 01580 710701; www.nationaltrust.org. Open 15 Mar-2 Nov. www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk
TOP UK HERB GARDENS
Acorn Bank Garden Penrith, Cumbria has the largest collection of herbs in the north of England.
Bede’s World Near Jarrow in Northumbria is a relatively new garden created in 1978 but based on medieval and Anglo-Saxon plants.
Chelsea Physic Garden, London. If you are interested in herbs, this is a must. Founded in 1673, as the Apothecaries’ Garden, the garden now plays a major role in educating people about natural medicine.
The Herb Garden, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, has medicinal herbs from all over the world in its Physic Garden plus over 40 kinds of lavender. Perfect to visit in August. Pot Pourri Garden is very popular with bees & butterflies.
Mount Grace Priory, near Osmotherley, North Yorkshire, is the recreation of a Carthusian monk’s herb garden from 600 years ago. Herbs planted include hyssop, which was thought to protect against evil.
Wightwick Manor and Gardens in Wolverhampton has a newly-created Caribbean herb garden.