Sissinghurst Castle Garden

England, United Kingdom

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Sissinghurst Castle Garden, a renowned National Trust site in Kent, England, originated as a Saxon pig farm called Saxenhurst in the 10th century and evolved through medieval ownership by families like the de Berhams, who built a moated timber structure hosting Edward I in 1305.

In the 16th century, the Bakers expanded it into a grand courtyard house with a tower, entertaining Queen Elizabeth I in 1573, before it served as a prison for French sailors during the Seven Years' War and later a poorhouse.

Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson purchased the rundown estate in 1930 for £12,375, transforming the farmyard into iconic walled gardens with compartments like the White Garden, Rose Garden, and Cottage Garden, filled with exuberant plantings of roses, honeysuckle, and seasonal blooms, opening to the public in the late 1930s. 

The property passed to the National Trust in 1967 after Vita's death, preserving their vision of a "refuge dedicated to beauty" amid 460 acres, drawing over 150,000 visitors annually with its literary ties and head gardeners' ongoing legacy.​