Creating Sissinghurst

Meet Vita Sackville-West, the pioneering gardener behind Sissinghurst

Tap to explore

Welcome to Sissinghurst, one of England's finest gardens.

View to Tower, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1986) by Dr Christopher ThackerGarden Museum

The garden at Sissinghurst Castle is one of the most iconic gardens in England. It was created by the poet and writer Vita Sackville-West and her husband the author and diplomat Harold Nicholson.

Tap to explore

You can still explore the castle and gardens today.

Knole, England Churchill Memoirs V. Iii- '49 (1949) by Mark KauffmanLIFE Photo Collection

Vita’s childhood home Knole in Kent is set within a great deer park which extends to 400 hectares.

Knole, England Churchill Memoirs V. Iii- '49 (1949) by Mark KauffmanLIFE Photo Collection

The gardens, consisting of a 16th century walled garden, orchard, fine avenues of sweet and Spanish Chestnuts and the long avenue of oaks known as Duchess Walk were an important part of her early life.

Knole, England Churchill Memoirs V. Iii- '49 (1949) by Mark KauffmanLIFE Photo Collection

Sackville-West, Vita 1892-1962LIFE Photo Collection

Vita married Harold Nicholson at the age of 21 in a private ceremony in the chapel at Knole in 1913.

Poem: The Garden (1915) by Vita Sackville-WestGarden Museum

Harold worked in the diplomatic service in Constantinople and the first garden the young couple had there inspired Vita to write the poem ‘We had a Garden on a Hill’.

Returning to England the couple bought their first home Long Barn, several miles away from Knole in 1915. Vita’s mother introduced her to Gertrude Jekyll and the couple developed a vision of English manor house gardening at Long Barn that acted as their gardening apprenticeship.

Polyanthus flowers growing between lines of hazel trees in the Nuttery at Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent (1955/1959) by John GayHistoric England

In April 1930, Harold recorded in his diary the moment he and Vita decided to buy Sissinghurst - 'We came suddenly upon the nutwalk', he wrote, 'and that settled it'.

Aerial View of Sissinghurst Castle & Garden, Kent (1932) by UnknownGarden Museum

When Vita Sackville-West and Harold purchased Sissinghurst in early 1930 it had been run as a traditional farm since 1855. The Tudor buildings were used to house farm workers and the land was utilised for growing vegetables for the workers and the farm grew cereal crops, fruit and hops.

Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent (2001-05-11) by English HeritageHistoric England

Harold Nicolson largely undertook the design of the garden at Sissinghurst and Vita the planting.

View from Tower, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (c.1985) by Diana Baskervyle-GleggGarden Museum

The landscape is designed as a series of "garden rooms", each with a different character of colour or theme, the enclosures being high clipped hedges or brickwork walls.

The rooms and their doors are arranged to offer glimpses into other parts of the garden.

The Rose Garden, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (c.1986) by Dr Christopher ThackerGarden Museum

The Rondel in the Rose Garden, Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent (1967) by John GayHistoric England

The garden was a marrying of the couples’ differing desires and tastes. Vita envisaged the Rose Garden as a 'tumble of roses and honeysuckle, figs and vines'. In contrast Harold's keenness for strict geometry is evident in the circular shaped hedge at the west end of the rose garden.

Tap to explore

Here you can look around the geometric shapes of the hedge design.

The White Garden, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1986) by Dr Christopher ThackerGarden Museum

The collection of rose varieties at Sissinghurst is extraordinary. Vita focused her collection on species roses and old garden varieties and enlisted the help of rose expert Graham Stuart Thomas to acquire and grow rare examples.

Vita said that one should "discard the idea that roses must be limited to certain accepted and accustomed colours, and to welcome the less familiar purples and lilacs, and the striped, flaked, mottled variations which recall the old Dutch flower-paintings; to approach them, in fact, with open and unprejudiced eyes, and also with a nose that esteems the true scent of a rose warmed by the sun."

White Garden from Tower, Sissinghurst Castle (1985) by Dr Christopher ThackerGarden Museum

The garden continued to grow and evolve. In the 1950s when roses outgrew their home in an area of the garden they were transferred to the Rose Garden. Harold set about replanning the space. The couple loved the bold appearance of white gladioli, white irises, white pompom dahlias and the white Japanese anemones and developed the White Garden.

White Garden & Virgin Statue, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (c.1985) by Dr Christopher ThackerGarden Museum

White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1986) by Diana Baskervyle-GleggGarden Museum

The Nuttery, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1985) by Diana Baskervyle-GleggGarden Museum

The avenue of Kentish cobnuts, a variety of hazelnut, which first attracted the couple to Sissinghurst provided a shady haven for birds and wildlife.

Polyanthus flowers growing between lines of hazel trees in the Nuttery at Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent (1955/1959) by John GayHistoric England

A sea of polyanthus were planted in the Nuttery to create a dazzling display of seasonal colour, utilising a single plant.

Nicolson described it as "the loveliest planting scheme in the whole world".

The Moat Walk, Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1975) by L GaytonGarden Museum

Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (c.1965) by UnknownGarden Museum

The buildings scattered around Sissinghurst were converted to become their home. Part of the long brick gatehouse from Sir John Baker's construction of 1533 became the library, the tower gatehouse dating from Richard Baker's rebuilding in 1560–1570 became Sackville-West's sitting room and study. The South Cottage housed their bedrooms and Nicolson's writing room.

Newspaper Articles by Vita Sackville-West (1952/1960) by Vita Sackville-WestGarden Museum

From 1946 until a few years before her death, Sackville-West wrote a gardening column for The Observer. She deplored what she felt was the nauseating manner in which gardening was often written about describing her dislike for the “sickly vocabulary employed.” Her column was written in a bold style that soon became popular and her planting philosophy is summed up in the advice from one article: "Cram, cram, cram, every chink and cranny".

Vita Sackville-West at Sissinghurst Castle, Kent (1948) by John GayGarden Museum

In 1955, in recognition of her achievement at Sissinghurst she was awarded the Royal Horticultural Society's Veitch Medal.

Tap to explore

Sissinghurst continues to welcome 200,000 visitors a year.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions (listed below) who have supplied the content.
Explore more
Related theme
UK Gardens
From the smallest window box to the largest country estate
View theme
Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favourites