It’s been described by a major American publication as “probably the most famous English garden there is”.
Sissinghurst Castle Garden was recently named top of “25 Gardens You Need to See,” published in The New York Times Style Magazine. Reporter Dee Lukasik paid the grounds a visit to see what placed it above gardens from across the globe.
The stunning gardens in Cranbrook are not stranger to accolades having made Lonely Planet’s list of 10 must-visit gardens from its new book, the Joy of Exploring Gardens, last year.
It owes its fame largely to the writer Vita Sackville-West, who first came here in 1930.
She had long searched for a place that could rival the beauty of her childhood home, Knole near Sevenoaks, which she was barred from inheriting because she was a woman.
The 16th-century Tudor manor, set in 460 acres, was in poor condition when she found it, yet she immediately saw its potential.
Together with her husband, the diplomat Harold Nicolson, she set about transforming it into a masterpiece of design and planting.
As Vita later wrote in the 1950s for House & Garden: “Harold Nicolson did the designing, and I did the planting. We made a good combination in this way.”
During my scheduled visit I met head gardener Troy Scott Smith, who leads a team of around 20 gardeners supported by more than 100 volunteers, keen to hear the secret to its horticultural heroics.
He has worked here on and off since 1992, returning in 2013 to take charge, and now lives in one wing of the building.
First he pointed to the roses climbing around the archway.
“They were not there in Vita’s time,” he said.
As he explained, Vita loved roses so much that, when the soil in the old rose garden needed a rest, the team planted them here eight years ago.
I looked at them in admiration and, in my personal view, they make the scene even more magical.
Troy explained how Vita and Harold poured into the garden not only money and time but a great deal of love.
“It’s a work of art, of poetry, of dreams and love,” he added. “As Vita described it, this garden ‘dreamt us’.”
He pointed out a magnolia planted during Vita’s time, still thriving, and a myrtle she had carried in her wedding bouquet.
“Some plants are exactly as she left them. Others we’ve had to change.”
The couple divided the grounds into distinctive “rooms,” each enclosed by hedges or walls, with its own character and peak season.
The Rose Garden is at its most spectacular in June, the White Garden in July, the Cottage Garden in spring and again in late summer, and the Spring Garden, with bulbs and blossom, in March and April.
“Vita likened it to turning the lights on and off in the rooms of a country house,” Troy continued.
Hen then showed me an “old-new” addition to Sissinghurst: the Delos Garden.
Old, because Vita and Harold had tried to create it after a trip to the Greek islands. New, because most of the original plants failed.
The north-facing slope kept them cold and wet, and the wind scoured the beds.
Only now, with England’s weather growing closer to that of southern Europe, could Troy and his team make Vita’s dream work.
“We terraced the ground so the beds tilt toward the sun,” he explained.
“It’s subtle, but it makes a huge difference. Delos is now where we trial plants for a hotter, drier future.”
Later he showed me the most famous White Garden, which in Vita’s and Harold’s time was called the Grey, Green and White Garden. It had never been strictly white.
“Vita often slipped in blue or pale yellow for softness,” Troy said.
Despite the team’s best efforts, this part of the garden struggles.
“Heavy clay soil and our changing climate don’t suit them.
“In Vita’s time, summers weren’t as hot, winters not as wet. And we have to remember this place is almost 100 years old, so it’s been growing plants for almost a century without having a rest.”
According to him Vita could allow parts of the garden to rest while cultivating others, because there wasn’t the pressure for it to be in full bloom all the time.
But now, with so many visitors coming to admire the flowers, expectations are high.
Troy also told me about Vita and Harold’s living arrangements together in the South Cottage, although in separate bedrooms.
In the same building, Harold had his office and they ate in the cottage by the Delos Garden, where the cook lived and the kitchen was located.
Vita did her writing in the Elizabethan Tower.
I managed to climb to the top, and the view was magnificent.
Their children had a separate space in a building known as the Big Room, a converted stable.
The National Trust, which now cares for the site, is moving towards a less formal and more natural style.
A large lawn at the entrance, once mown weekly, has been turned into a meadow.
“We used to mow this every week like a lawn, Troy said. “Now it’s a meadow, better for wildlife, and more in keeping with the working farm Vita knew.”
During my visit I noticed bees flying from clover to oxeye daisies. Somewhere under the grass, mice and voles rustled unseen, while owls wheeled above from their nest in the old barn.
Troy then showed me a bed of chamomile and cornflowers.
“This bit was struggling,” he explained. “So we’ve let it rest and planted green manure to feed the soil.
“It still looks beautiful, and it buys us time.”
Walking through the gardens, I noticed that not every corner was in bloom.
But, as Troy explains, that’s very much deliberate.
“Vita poured everything into a garden room’s peak moment and let the rest rest,” he said.
“She was comfortable with that. But visitors today expect everything to look perfect all year, which isn’t easy when 200,000 people walk through each year.”
Climate change only makes it harder.
“Not long ago we had nearly 40 degrees here,” Troy said.
“Delphiniums, lupins, even roses, the kind of plants people expect to see in an English flower garden, just can’t cope without heavy watering, and we don’t want to rely on that.
“The soil here is old. It’s been gardened hard for almost a century.”
It was so hot on the day of my visit that I decided to treat myself to an iced coffee from the café to cool down whcih I can confirm was delicious.
As I walked past the flower beds, meadow, orchard, nursery and the tower rising against the blue sky, I thought about that recognition, being named top of the list of gardens compiled by The New York Times Style Magazine.
I’ve visited gardens around the globe, each with its own magic, but Sissinghurst has something more: history, intimacy, and the feeling that it has grown from the love and care of many people.
Whether it is the single most beautiful is for each visitor to decide – but for me, it has certainly earned its place atop the pile.
