The strange angle of the Lime Walk was dictated by the rows of hazelnut trees in Sissinghurst's Nuttery. These trees were decades old when the Nicolsons bought the property. The discovery of the old nuttery played a major role in their decision to buy Sissinghurst, so there was never any possibility of changing the nuttery to fit Harold's plans; he had to design his garden to showcase the nuttery.
In March of 1932, Harold wrote in his diary about the difficulties that he was having with this part of the garden (the area that is now the Rose Garden was then a kitchen garden): "Viti and I measure the kitchen garden to discover how much paling will be required to make it square. I fiddle about with this vista problem. Obviously what would be good in a teleological sense would be to put the end of the main nuttery walk at the end of a main vista running from the new angle of the kitchen garden, past the cottage garden and thus perspectively to what is now a gate into a field. Only this cuts angularly across the holly hedge in our own little cottage garden and fits obtusely with the rest of the design. That is what is such a bore about Sissinghurst. It is magnificent but constantly obtuse."
The maps above and below show how Harold solved the problem. Rather than trying to angle the main walk of the Rose Garden to line up with the main walk of the Nuttery, he created the Lime Walk to line up with the Nuttery's main walk.
The hornbeam hedges that line the Lime Walk screen out the gardens on the north and the open pasture on the south. If the Cottage Garden functioned as Sissinghurst's outdoor sitting room, this was its grand gallery. A statue of a Bacchante stands at the western end of the Lime Walk; she not only terminates the Lime Walk's vista, but also the vista through the Rondel from the Entry Courtyard. A statue of a young male god stands in the center of the Nuttery's main walk; he is shown in the photo below. Beyond him is the entry to the Herb Garden. There is an oak bench located against the Herb Garden's eastern hedge; this both terminates the vista and is an invitation for visitors to rest for a moment while they look along the Lime Walk towards the Bacchante.
