Sissinghurst Castle - Part Three
other Renaissance villas, the Villa Lante consists of twin pavilions in a garden. the owner lived in one pavilion and the other was reserved for guests. The main dining area of the Villa Lante was outdoors, in the shade of trees; this was quite practical, since the villa wasn't lived in during the winter and Italy has dry summers. The Nicolsons lived year-round at Sissinghurst, and Harold's complaints during a cold spell just before Christmas of 1945, make it clear just how unpleasant life at Sissinghurst could be. The pipes in the South Cottage had frozen, so in order to shave Harold had to walk across the garden to the Priest's House, when he got there, he discovered that he had left his razor behind so he had to trudge back through the snow to get it, and then return to the Priest's House. Harold wrote that this convinced him "how bitter it was to inhabit a house which was so cold and draughty and which entailed having to shave in a distant cottage".
The rest of the articles in this series will be about the individual parts of the gardens at Sissinghurst Castle, but I felt that it was important to devote an article to how the Nicolsons lived at Sissinghurst Castle, because while most gardens are located next to their owners homes, the gardens of Sissinghurst were created within the ruins of a home and the Nicolsons lived among the ruins as if it was still a manorhouse. The courtyard between the entrance range and the tower served as their entrance hall, and the garden next to the Priest's House was their dining room whenever the weather allowed, while Harold and Vita used the Cottage Garden next to the South Garden as their sitting room. It was a common sight to see the Nicolson's formally attired butler carrying silver trays between the Priest's House and the South Cottage. The Nicolsons created their own unique little world.
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