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The gardens at Sissinghurst Castle in the Weald of Kent, near Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Tenterden, are owned and maintained by the National Trust. They rank highly among the most celebrated gardens in England. Indeed, some garden enthusiasts would put them first.
Sissinghurst was created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat, both members of the Bloomsbury group. It is one of the best-loved gardens in the whole of the United Kingdom, drawing visitors from all over the world. The garden itself is designed as a series of "rooms", each with a different character of colour and/or theme, the walls being high clipped hedges.
The site is ancient—its name comes from the Saxon and means clearing in the woods. A stone manor surrounded by a moat was built in the Middle Ages. The original building was replaced in the 15th century by a large manor built by the Baker family—related by marriage to the Sackvilles of Knole. For Sackville-West, Sissinghurst and its garden rooms came to symbolically represent Knole, reputedly the largest house in Britain, which as the only child of Lionel, 3rd Lord Sackville she should have inherited but which had passed to her uncle as the male heir.
The building has had many uses: as a prisoner-of-war camp during the Seven Years' War; as the workhouse for the Cranbrook Union; after which it became homes for farm labourers.
Sackville-West and Nicholson found Sissinghurst in 1930 after concern that their property Long Barn, near Sevenoaks, Kent, was close to development over which they had no control. Although it was in derelict condition, they purchased Sissinghurst and began constructing the garden we know today. The layout by Nicholson and planting by Sackville-West were both strongly influenced by the gardens of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens and also by Hidcote Manor, designed and owned by Lawrence Johnston. Sissinghurst was first opened to the public in 1938.
The National Trust took over the gardens in 1967. The garden epitomises the English garden of the mid-20th century The gardens are now very popular and visitors should be prepared for a wait for admission during busy periods.
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