Hi, and welcome to our visit to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens in the county of Kent
and don't forget if you like what you see then why not subscribe and keep with us on our journey
As I said we're in the south east corner of the UK
in the beautiful county of Kent
the nearest railway station is about six miles north of us at Staplehurst
and if you're coming by road it's junction 6 or 7 of the M20
and then follow the A229 south
and of course you can combine it with our Kent road trip, to which I 'll pop a link at the very end of this video
so without further ado let's go and explore Sissinghurst Castle Gardens
and I'm going to start at the very beginning
at the coffee shop, the garden shop and the second hand bookstore
it's then only a short walk before you reach the visitors reception and information centre
you'll also find the Oast House exhibition
which details the history of Sissinghurst Castle
which gives you details of its many changing functions in life
and I'll take you through some of that history as we step through this video
so to our right is the entrance to Sissnghurst Castle Garden
I know I keep switching between garden and gardens
Within the garden there are many gardens as we will see
and these white top buildings are oast houses, used for the drying of hops
and a very familiar sight in the south east of England, especially the county of Kent
alongside the oast houses is the Granary Restaurant, the Elizabethan Barn and the gift shop
the stroll through the Elizabethan Barn gives you your first views over the Weald of Kent
in fact, Sissinghurst started life as Saxonhurst
a Saxon Age pig farm
and then a moated manor was built and the only part of that that remains is actually the moat
and in front of us is one of the many gardens that make up Sissinghurst Castle Garden
I promise you we'll be back to this a little later
but now we're gonna head off on the short walk
in fact, there's a few different walks you can undertake should you want to from Sissinghurst Castle
these are clearly outlined in the National Trust leaflet that you get when you visit
but you can also download a copy from the National Trust website
and I'll pop a link in the description, along with a link to the whole Sissinghurst site
we've opted for the short walk which will take us down towards the lakes
and a beautiful little walk this is too, a haven for wildlife so just keep your eyes open
and if you find this tranquil setting appealing then you can stay at the Sissinghurst Castle Gardens Bed & Breakfast
I'll pop a link in the description below so you can check that out
the short walk then returns you back towards the castle gardens
and this time, as I promised you, we're gonna be heading in
and the first thing you're gonna notice is the beautiful Elizabethan facade
of what was originally the manor house this was built to be an exquisite country retreat
but no castle, so where does the name come from? we'll get to that shortly
A stroll through the archway and you're presented with the architectural centerpiece of Sissinghurst Castle
but this is all that really remains
after the 3,000 French prisoners, held during the seven years war, burned the majority of the house down
but one of the highlights of your visit is going to be the gardens
built and styled by Vita Sackville West and her husband Harold Nicholson in the 1930s
now back to those French prisoners, they nicknamed this place 'Chateau de Sissinghurst'
which loosely translated - Sissinghurst Castle
now that tower, you know you can climb it
so guess what, yep, here we go
but please do check with the National Trust website because at times the tower may be closed
if you do reach the top you are afforded some beautiful views of the landscape and the gardens below
isn't this just a glorious view
so now it's time to head down, and as you can see it's a narrow twisting staircase
and it's shared by people going both up and down
so now it's time to discover the gardens, and now let me give you the list from the National Trust website
there is the Rose Garden, the White Garden, the South Cottage Garden, the Herb Garden, the Nuttery
the Lime Walk, Delos, the Moat Walk, the Orchard and the Purple Border
All I have to say is i enjoyed walking through them
Hopefully, you're now getting scale of the place
you really need to allow a few hours to explore Sissinghurst castle
but equally you could spend all day here
you can bring a picnic, there's a dedicated picnic area, but you can't bring it into the gardens
at the eastern end of the garden, alongside the moat
you'll come across the gazebo, built in 1969, in memory of Harold Nichols
another building alongside the moat, from a much earlier period, is the Boat House
once again this leads us back into the formal gardens
and the latest addition, opened in spring 2021, Delos, a Greek themed garden in the center of Kent
this is a reimagining of a garden that Vita and Harold tried to create
and the building in the corner is the Old Priest House
On returning to the Elizabeth manor house you get to explore the library
as it was in Vita and Harold's time
and within the library is a recently discovered picture of how Sissinghurst would have looked before that infamous fire
and now we leave the main house and garden and head towards the Vegetable Garden
the Vegetable Garden was created in 2008 and operates using a no dig method
the produce grown here is then used in the Granary Restaurant, how cool is that?
and that brings our time that Sissinghurst Castle Gardens to a close
I hope you enjoyed what we put together
Don't forget to subscribe if you've enjoyed it
I'm going to pop a link up at the end with a road trip so you can enjoy more of Sissinghurst and the surrounding countryside
Thanks so much, stay safe, stay well