Change of plans and Knole and Sissinghurst...

Thursday, 9th June, and Friday, 10th June - (Catch-up)

(Regarding Catch-up: now that we are back, everything will be catch-up, so if anyone out there is still reading, there's much more to come)

We finally heard from cousin Andrew and Veronica, via an email. They had obviously forgotten about meeting us at Wisley, and had been involved with rehearsals for an biblical oratory in which they were singing, in London. They invited us to come along, but there were a few reasons we couldn't or wouldn't. First, we didn't want to travel into London again; second, we can't stand choral music, and third, it was biblical. So we sent a reply and offered our apologies, and pointed out it wasn't our cup of tea.

The other good thing about the Premier Inn chain, is that if your plans change, as long as you let them know before midday, you can check out a day early, at no penalty to you. So, we decided we might like to see Sissinghurst again, and I re-booked at another P.Inn at a place called Winteringbury, which is in the area.

On the way there, we visited Knole, which was the childhood home of Vita Sackville-West, (who later was associated with and helped establish Sissinghurst castle and gardens), and so there is a real connection, and we were also going to Sissinghurst the next day. We had a good drive there, and got to Knole too early to see the house, which didn't open until 12.00. I'm not sure why some of these places open so late, as there are always hoards of people waiting to go in.

Still the cafe was open and coffee beckoned, and there were a couple of things you could look at before the house opened.

The entrance to Knole is in the road back in the town, and once through the entrance, this enormous estate opens out. It is huge and has herds of deer wandering everywhere. We went through the house after opening at 12, and it is self-guided, and  is huge, but not grand or decorative in the manner of some other places we have been. It hasn't really been updated much since the 17th/18thC, and looked faded and dull. This was something Vita said herself when she was growing up, so in some ways it was a little disappointing. However a lot of history connected to the house and the family, which was interesting. Still it was National Trust, so no money wasted.

We found the hotel quite easily, and it is slightly different in layout to others in the chain, (older?), but our room was way down the back, away from the main road, and looked out to a small grassed courtyard, so very peaceful. Dinner was a non event, as they got a couple of things wrong, and then offered us dessert on the house. Trouble with apple pie is that it was nice, but had been zapped in the m-wave and so was not crisp.

Friday, 10th

After filling up the diesel car with petrol, we headed off, quite oblivious to what I had put in the tank, and actually drove quite a way to Sissinghurst.
We missed a turn on the way, and ended up going SW instead of SE, and so didn't get to the castle until 10.30, which is when it opens.
Inevitably there are lots of people there, as it is the most visited garden in the UK (?), and in high summer they have timed tickets so that not too many are in the garden at the one time.

The Tower

We love Sissinghurst, both for its history, and mostly for the way it has been created and planted, and this time was a little different from four years ago, and it seemed there had been some refurbishing happening. The climbing rose at the centre of the white garden was much sparser, and looks as tho they have hacked it back to renew the growth.


However there is still that "magic" that we found when we first came here, and it is the combination of the buildings and the layout and the plantings, and the skill with which Vita designed and planted the garden. We were both very happy to have come back, and it was quite crowded by the time we left. 

(This time the photos we took were mainly of quite special things we hadn't seen, or thought were interesting. Too many to put here).

Had a little trouble starting the car, (duh!!), but still unaware what we'd done, and so moved on towards Canterbury, via many very pretty villages, and once in Sandwich, we had a little trouble finding the place.
The houses are in Cattle Market, and are a row of quite charming cottages, in a beautiful, very productive garden, and were rebuilt in 1805, from Almshouses originally from the 1200's.

Trouble was, the cottages are only 12 feet wide! The furniture was not comfortable and simply the wrong type of furniture for such small spaces. Then you had to get upstairs!!! This would have been the smallest stairway I've ever seen, and had handrails all the way up, which you needed to get there.

And to top off the cramped quarters, there was no washing machine, which we were counting on to clean up all our  clothes for the up-coming cruise.

Yes, the stairs are as small as they look!

A sign in the kitchen said, "please feel free to use our electrical appliances" !!!

 Excuse me, we are paying to use the cottage, and everything that goes with it.

So, over the 5 nights we had there, it was one of the most uncomfortable stays we'd had, in that we couldn't relax properly, and the only practical seating were the two wooden dining chairs.

However, Sandwich itself is a lovely town and in times past was actually on the coast, a few miles away. Gradual silting up of the rivers/land has, over time, reformed the area.

The town had almost everything we wanted. Two supermarkets, pubs, other interesting shops, fish and chips, and several restaurants. But we had done this sort of thing to have a break from pub meals, etc, and so had a few very simple meals of our own. Trouble is, we had to also try and restrict what we bought in, because after here, we are back to hotels again, on the way across to Southampton and the cruise.

As with many towns of its type, the streets are very narrow, but with many really interesting buildings and building styles.