The photo above shows the Lime Walk. The walk is paved with York Stone. These replace the concrete pavers which were all that Harold and Vita's budget allowed.
With the exception of the photo of primroses, the photographs in this article were taken by Dave Parker and may not be reproduced in any way without his permission; his website features many beautiful photographs of Sissinghurst Castle.
Sissinghurst is famous for its "garden rooms". The Nicolsons actually lived in these rooms which they created among the ruins of a Tudor manorhouse. The Entry Courtyard functioned as their foyer, the Inner Courtyard as their grand hall, the White Garden as their dining room, and the Cottage Garden as their sittingroom. The Lime Walk, which was begun in 1936, served as their grand gallery, echoing the vanished grand gallery which had been the glory of the Tudor manorhouse.
It is not certain how mature the Lime Walk was at the outbreak of World War II. Like the rest of Sissinghurst's garden rooms, the bulbs and herbaceous plants were neglected during the war. The gardeners were in the military and Harold's responsibilities as a member of Parliament kept him busy. Vita focused her gardening efforts on keeping the hedges pruned and I assume that she also kept the lime trees pruned.
The Lime Walk originally featured featured straight rows of lime trees (Tilia x europea), these were replaced in the late 1970s by Tilia x platyphyllos 'Rubra' which is more resistant to disease. The new lime trees were trained in the same manner as the earlier trees; the trunks of the trees were kept free of branches to a height of 2.2 meters (7 feet 2 inches), above that height, three rows of branches are trained on three horizontal wires. This training method is known as pleaching; the resulting effect is like a narrow hedge on stilts. This can clearly be seen in the photo at the top of this article and the photo below.
The photo above was taken in August. It shows how quiet this part of the garden has always been during the summer. The large pots of impatiens provide the only summer blooms. Sissinghurst's garden rooms were designed to be in full bloom at different times. The gardening year began with the spring blooms of the Lime Walk, the Rose Garden was filled with blooms in May and June, and the White Garden was designed to be at its best in July.
