Sunday 12 July 2015

Sissinghurst Castle

If you've ever thought that it would be a really good wheeze to live in a National Trust property, you should read Adam Nicolson's book, Sissinghurst.

Adam's family owned Sissinghurst Castle for many years - he is the grandson of Vita Sackville-West - before they handed it over to the National Trust in 1967. Adam's father, Nigel, died in the house in 2004 and Adam helped the undertakers to cover the body with a blanket and carry it on a stretcher to a car outside the building.

A man suddenly appeared and approached Adam. The man asked if the house was open. Adam, still assisting with loading his father's corpse into the hearse, said no, that it was always closed on Thursdays and they had things going on today. The man persisted, saying he had come all the way from Milan, could he not just have five minutes to see the gardens?

I don't know about you, but my jaw was dropping as I read that tale. It may be a rather extreme example of the downsides of life in a National Trust property but it's a sobering reminder of how your home, and to some degree your life, are not your own. You are a tourist attraction.

And before anyone gets in touch saying "THESE PEOPLE GET TO LIVE IN STATELY HOMES FOR FREE SUBSIDISED BY THE £4.95 I HAD TO PAY FOR A BOWL OF LEEK AND POTATO SOUP THAT HAD NO VISIBLE LEEK IN IT WHATSOEVER. WE SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO LOOK INSIDE THEIR WARDROBES IF WE FEEL LIKE IT" I know that there are many sides to the matter. I just think it must be quite...weird.

(In fact, after I got home from Sissinghurst today I found out that the Nicolsons did indeed find it weird and eventually moved out - but more of that later.)  


Sissinghurst Tower

Anyway. Where do I even start with the history of Sissinghurst? In the words of Maria von Trapp, let's start at the very beginning:

  • There was once a medieval manor house on the site of Sissinghurst, although only part of the moat survives today
  • Sir John Baker, a lawyer and politician who served Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Queen Mary, is believed to have built the entrance arch and gables in the 1530s
  • His son, Richard Baker, built the tower and transformed Sissinghurst into a magnificent house - Elizabeth I came to stay for 3 days in 1573
  • Sadly, the Bakers fell from grace - they were Royalists during the Civil War and things began to unravel for them
  • The house fell into decline and was eventually used to incarcerate French prisoners captured during the Seven Years War
  • It was put up for sale in 1928 but no-one wanted it, such was its sad state
  • Vita Sackville-West, who would have inherited Knole if she had been a boy, bought the place for £12,385 with her husband, Harold Nicolson
  • It had no electricity, no running water, no heating, no drains - they must have been a little bit bonkers
  • They started work on the garden, getting the basic layout in place by 1932
  • Their head gardener, John Vass, worked for them from 1939 to 1957 and was followed in 1959 by Sibylle Kreutzberger and Pam Schwerdt who remained until 1990!
  • Vita died in 1962 - she wrote to Harold in 1961; "We have done our best and made a garden where none was."
I have admitted before that on a scale of 1-10, my interest in gardening hovers around the 1 mark, but even I will concede that the gardens at Sissinghurst are phenomenal.

But first, the tower. The view from the tower is stupendous - even on a cloudy day, the views across Kent are marvellous:


Sissinghurst view from the tower

Vita had her study inside the tower and it's been preserved as she had it. It's beautiful - crammed full of books and furniture, it looks like the cosiest room on earth.

We then wandered around the gardens. My favourite was the White Garden, which was the last one to be completed. I couldn't stay in there long, because I unfortunately heard myself saying things to the Scone Sidekick like; "This is such a simple idea! Lots and lots of white plants! It must be easy to grow a hedge like that?! I could do this!", which meant that it was time to leave. I have zero patience, I have little artistic vision, and I don't like mud. Gardening is not for me.


Sissinghurst White Garden

There is also a Rose Garden, a Spring Garden, the Cottage Garden, the Herb Garden, the Moat Walk (full of azaleas), and the Orchard. 

The guidebook tells us that the Sissinghurst gardeners have a a fierce commitment to maintaining the ethos of the place, as Vita and Harold had set it out. For example, there is only one rhododendron in the Delos area, because Harold once explained that "rhododendrons are to us like large stockbrokers whom we do not want to have to dinner." Which seems fair enough.

Sissinghurst was my 87th National Trust scone visit, so you'd think that I'd know the ropes by now. But no. The tearoom nearest the car park had about four tables in it and although it didn't feel right, they had scones and that's all I was really bothered about.

Of course, anyone with half a brain would know that four tables isn't really enough to cope with the 180,000 visitors that Sissinghurst apparently gets each year. Sure enough, around the corner was a huge restaurant - the same restaurant that Adam Nicolson talks about in the book that he wrote (and the book that I read).

But it's all immaterial because the Sissinghurst scone was stunning. It looked perfect, it was fresh as could be, and it tasted fantastic. Top marks.


Sissinghurst scone

I loved Sissinghurst. The only bad thing is that you really need to see it at least 6 times a year to appreciate the effect of the changing seasons on the different areas of the garden. But that's not really a bad thing.

I'll finish by recommending Adam Nicolson's book, Sissinghurst - An Unfinished History. It's a fascinating account of how one family tried to influence the development of a National Trust property and the issues that arose. In the end, it seems that living at Sissinghurst just became too much of a hassle - some of their reasons for leaving are highlighted in this interview. But it's a lovely place and it has superb scones - I highly recommend it.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden: 5 out of 5
Scone: 5 out of 5
Harold Nicolson's reasoning behind banning rhododendrons: 5 out of 5

3 comments:

  1. I MUST go back.... it's been far too long..... and a great read as usual... thanks :)

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  2. Ah I MUST go back to Sissingshurst... it's been far too long since I went!!

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  3. I had a gorgeous cheese and bacon scone at Sissinghurst on Saturday- it was delicious 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

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