Giddy at the gardens

This tale starts 18 years ago at 66 Clarence St where Amanda B is yet again regaling me with the places she has visited over her massive managers desk on Level 4.  She has lugged in an exquisite book with photos of Sissinghurst Castle Garden, a beautiful garden with a fascinating past in Kent. Today I stand in this garden and see first hand the beauty, symmetry and creativeness.

Sissinghurst started out as pig farm in the Saxon times, moved onto a manor house, then in the 16^th century was rebuilt into a much more luxurious house and tower. By the 1930’s the house and garden where nearly derelict and Harold Nicolson and Vita Sackville-West set about rebuilding the garden into what we enjoy today.

Our first assault is to climb the 67 steps to the top of the tower and stand in the bitter wind to see the layout of the whole garden beneath us. The white garden, cottage garden, meadow, moat and buildings so much to explore. We are giddy with excitement and race back down the stairs to explore every possible nook and cranny of the garden. Between us we take 399 photos.