London to Kent

Picture 1: the Sissinghurst towers, the only bit remaining of the back part of the manor house, which would have stretched to either side of the towers and back behind them, forming a square where the towers were the entrance.
Picture 2: the White Garden.
Picture 3: making friends in the White Garden.
Picture 4: a view of the Rose Garden from one of its entrances.
Picture 5: a view of part of the Rose Garden from the top of the towers.
Picture 6: an iris, I think in the Rose Garden.

Just a few pictures from Sissinghurst today since we're exhausted and jet-lagged. As we chatted about our plans for today while sitting out our layover in Geneva this morning, we discovered in the guidebook that Sissinghurst is open 6 days a week AND NOT WEDNESDAY, the day we were planning on visiting. Our only chance of seeing Sissinghurst, since we have to depart for Winchester tomorrow and won't be back in Kent, was to hope that all would go smoothly with the flight to London, getting through customs, getting the rental car, and driving out of London and into the countryside...smoothly enough that we could get to Sissinghurst around 4 or so with a good two hours before closing. Of course, banking on all of that usually wouldn't work but we got really lucky. Our plane, an almost empty flight, landed in London a good 15 minutes early and Customs were a breeze. We talked with the rental car people for awhile to make sure we understand all the terms exactly, but were still on the road by about 2:30 (with me driving!). Ok, I'll admit that maybe we were on the road at 2:15 but we did several loops around the arrivals area because we couldn't find the turn we wanted, which ended up being the most obvious and sensical one. I'll also admit that there were a few roundabouts during the course of today's driving that got 2 or 3 times around as we figured out the darn English road signs - quite confusing sometimes.

We got to Sissinghurst in good time without getting lost and with no mishaps! Safely on the left side of the road the whole way! The gardens were, of course, beautiful. Mom's favorite was the rose garden. She says she's been liking roses more lately. My favorites were the cottage garden (mostly red, yellow, and orange flowers) and the herb garden (such good smells and potential deliciousness!).