Sissinghurst

We are fulfilling a long-held wish to visit Sissinghurst. There was a house here in Saxon times, but what you see today (notably the Tower) dates from the 16th century and later. During the Seven Years War (1756-63) it was used as prison camp for captured French sailors and thirty years later as a work house for the poor.  New owners made improvements in 1839, but much of what you see today was the work of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson who bought the castle in 1930. They laid out the gardens and and transformed the stables into the Long Library.

You go through the archway ...

 

.... and are immediately confronted by the Tower. We climbed up the steep spiral staircase, passing Vita's writing room, and emerged onto the top of the tower.

 

 There is a great view looking back towards the Long Library, with the Oast Houses in the background.

There is also a nice view of a section of the gardens.

Returning to ground level, we explored the grounds ...

... and some of the lovely Gaura flowers, a new one for me.

Then we headed off for refreshments, passing the Elizabethan Barn on our way.

And finally, as we departed, we had a good close up of the handsome Oast Houses.