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Sissinghurst Castle Garden, located in Kent, is perhaps the most famous twentieth-century garden in England and is a Grade 1 on Historic England’s register of historic parks and gardens. The garden was created by Vita Sackville-West, a writer and poet, and her husband Harold Nicholson, a diplomat. The couple brought the garden in 1930 when it was a simple farmstead. Over the next thirty years, working with a series of famous head gardeners, Sackville-West and Nicholson developed the garden into one of the best in the world. When Sackville-West passed away in 1962, Sissinghurst Castle Garden came into the hands of the National Trust.The garden itself is well known for its wide plant collection, including a fine assembly of old garden roses. Featuring a host of different rose species, the collection at Sissinghurst Castle Garden has been described as one of the finest in the world. Interestingly, many of the plants that grow in the gardens have names related to those who worked there or are named after the garden itself.
While the gardens at Sissinghurst are divided into several garden rooms, they are all interconnected. In fact, Sissinghurst Castle Garden was one of the first examples of a garden that was separated into distinct areas. The White Garden, known as one of the most ambitious and entrancing gardens of its type, is a particular highlight.
The grounds of the gardens feature a long and unique history. The site has been occupied since the middle ages with the present-day castle being built in 1530 to serve as a house for Sir John Baker. Sir John’s daughter went on to marry Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, who is an ancestor of Vita Sackville-West. During the Seven Years’ War, the house was leased to the government and it acted as a prisoner of war camp. By the time the house returned to the family, great damage had been done to its original structure and it fell into disrepute. The remaining buildings were sold and used as workhouses and by the 20th century, Sissinghurst had become a derelict farmstead.
Upon leaving her family home in 1930, Vita Sackville-West brought Sissinghurst Castle. Before the deeds of the property had been signed, she had already begun cultivating the garden, planting noisette roses along the border of the south cottage. Before starting their work, Sissinghurst Gardens were little more than some oak and nut trees, a quince, and a single old rose. This did not stop Sackville-West, who, with the help of her husband, created "a garden where none was”.
Thanks to the hard work by Sackville-West and Nicholson, Sissinghurst Castle Garden remains a major cultural influence on horticultural practice. The gardens are open to visitor to this day and perhaps the best time to visit is during spring and summer when the garden’s famous roses will be at their best. Tours around the main Castle are also available, including vast panoramic views of the garden, working farm and 450-acre wide estate.
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