Where: Sissinghurst, England
When: April 14, 2013
With: Jad and Emma
An upcoming trip has forced me to fork over my passport to the Indian visa authorities, which has left me on official "UK Lockdown". Though not a bad place to be locked down, while Dave was away this past weekend, I enlisted two friends to continue ticking things off my list here in England. This stop: Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
Sitting an hour outside of London by train, this little house and garden sits in the county of Kent. This was the first nice day of spring we've had, so it was nice to get on the train and out of the city for a bit.
After a ten minute cab ride from the train station with a very odd driver, we ended up at the grounds. The castle appeared to be more of a house, and sat almost hidden away behind its hedges and trees. One tall clock tower stands in the back as the largest part of the structure. Our first stop was to the top of the tower.
Nevertheless, we made our way down to start exploring. The grounds were much smaller than I was expecting. It definitely felt more like a garden for a home rather than for a castle.
While the full force of flowers wasn't out yet, the daffodils were blooming and the sun was shining, which for England, makes a big difference.
The castle used to have a moat around its perimeter. Now, only a small portion of the moat remains, filled with tiny fish and adding to the pleasant country scene around us.
When: April 14, 2013
With: Jad and Emma
An upcoming trip has forced me to fork over my passport to the Indian visa authorities, which has left me on official "UK Lockdown". Though not a bad place to be locked down, while Dave was away this past weekend, I enlisted two friends to continue ticking things off my list here in England. This stop: Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.
Sitting an hour outside of London by train, this little house and garden sits in the county of Kent. This was the first nice day of spring we've had, so it was nice to get on the train and out of the city for a bit.
After a ten minute cab ride from the train station with a very odd driver, we ended up at the grounds. The castle appeared to be more of a house, and sat almost hidden away behind its hedges and trees. One tall clock tower stands in the back as the largest part of the structure. Our first stop was to the top of the tower.
From the top of the clock tower, we could see the grounds sprawling out around us. Sadly, this showed that the gardens we'd come to see...hadn't really bloomed yet.
Nevertheless, we made our way down to start exploring. The grounds were much smaller than I was expecting. It definitely felt more like a garden for a home rather than for a castle.
Along one side of the house, we finally saw our first flowers!
Out of the hedge and into the fields.
While the full force of flowers wasn't out yet, the daffodils were blooming and the sun was shining, which for England, makes a big difference.
The castle used to have a moat around its perimeter. Now, only a small portion of the moat remains, filled with tiny fish and adding to the pleasant country scene around us.
The clock tower from behind.
Greek statues adorned different areas of the garden.
In several parts, there were these weird trees that while separate, had somehow had their branches melded into each other to make a fence. I have no idea how they did that.
We found an empty bench and decided to soak up the rays for a little while.
After we thoroughly sunned ourselves and toured the gardens, we decided to call it. Emma got out first, and tried to leave us behind.
Since we were in the country, the only proper thing to end our afternoon was to have tea and scones. Jad and I embarassed Emma with the overmixing of our clotted cream, but the foreigners still thought it was delicious.
While we were mildly underwhelmed by the "gardens", we recognized it wasn't peak time and had a lovely day nonetheless. You can never complain in England when you get a sunny day out in the countryside.
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