Vita Sackville-West's writing desk, Sissinghurst Castle

This Elizabethan manor house, based on a double courtyard, with a central red-brick tower, was built by Sir Richard Baker in 1560-1570. It was saved from dereliction when Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson bought Sissinghurst, which included 400 acres of farmland, in 1930.