The most important of the hedges was the double yew walk, planted in 1932, which functioned as the garden's main hallway for Harold and Vita as they crossed their garden on their trips from the South Cottage, where they slept, to the Preist's House, where they dined. The photograph below shows the orchard as it looks today, with the yew walk at the bottom of the photo. The South Cottage is shown on the right side of the photograph.
You can see from the photograph that the yew walk is very narrow; it isn't wide enough for two adults to walk side by side. The architect A.R. Powys warned Harold about this flaw, saying that there wasn't space for the inevitable widening of the hedges with age. Harold ignored him and the result is that the yew walk, while being one of the most important of the garden's features, is not entirely successful from a design point of view. It is a mistake to be so in awe of Sissinghurst's reputation that you are blind to its flaws.
Powys worked at Sissinghurst from 1932 until his death in 1936. He was mainly chosen because of his sensitivity in matching time-worn building materials, and was the person largely responsible for transforming Sissinghurst Castle from a neglected ruin into an harmonious setting for the Nicolson's garden. He planned the restoration of the Priest's House and the transformation of the entry range's stables into the Big Room (now called the Long Library). Powys' most important contribution to the garden's design is the semi-circular wall that terminates the west end of the rose garden; this was completed shortly before his death.
During the early years, Vita restrained her desire to lavishly plant every corner of Sissinghurst, but she wasn't totally frustrated. Many people think of the garden next to the Priest's House as the last part of Sissinghurst to be developed, because it was planted as a white garden in 1950, but this was actually the first area to be planted as an ornamental garden. It was here that Vita planted her original rose garden in 1931, so my next article will be a history of the white garden.
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