Sissinghurst Castle is a house and garden in the care of the National Trust. Situated in the Weald of Kent, it is not really a castle at all. It is more of a moated manor house, but with the turreted gatehouse I guess it could be described as a castle. It certainly isn’t what an excited child would imagine a castle looks like.

Instead the property conveys what has happened to it during the five centuries it has existed. In its past it has been host to overnight stays by royalty, a prisoner of war camp, farm and finally a household for Vita Sackville-West, who was responsible for the formalising of the gardens.

Like all National Trust properties it is a good place to spend several hours. When we visited the sun decided to make a rare appearance, and the spring flowers were in full bloom. There were a lot of visitors there on that day, which caused a crowding problem on the narrow, maze like paths through the gardens.

Like in supermarkets, people amble along in their own world of thoughts. I’m the same probably, but my attention is looking through the viewfinder of my camera.

These photos of Sissinghurst Castle can be viewed full size on my Flickr page by clicking on them.