Sissinghurst and the BBC4 documentary

Sissinghurst - Elizabethan Barn and Fields
8" x 11.5", coloured pencils on Arches HP
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

This is a view I love every time I visit Sissinghurst - of the fields seen through the arches of the great Elizabethan Farm. I don't often put formal completed drawings on my sketchbook blog but this one seemed appropriate. Regular readers will know I love travelling with my sketchbook to sketch in gardens and that one of the gardens I love drawing is Sissinghurst in Kent. I've updated my information site Sissinghurst Castle Garden - a great garden to include links to the BBC iplayer and the first six episodes of the new BBC4 documentary Sissinghurst.

Documentary series about the attempts of writer Adam Nicolson and his wife Sarah Raven to bring farming back into the heart of the estate and garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent, their historic home which is owned by the National Trust and was moulded into its present form by Nicolson's grandmother Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson back in the 1930s. BBC iplayer

We've been avid watchers every Sunday night. I have to confess we're loving the 'behind the scenes' perspective on Sissinghurst and seeing all the people who are involved with its upkeep. However we're also slightly cringing at times at the entrenched perspectives and lack of understanding about different ways of doing things which have been evident in the series so far. It was very nice to see last Sunday that the tide is finally turning........ I'm certainly looking forward to trying the new salads and food from the farm in the revamped Barn Restaurant when I start my sketching visits this year. Sissinghurst garden opens for the 2009 season today - Sunday 15th March. It's now open from 11am to 6.30pm from 15 March to 2 November 2009 every day of the week except for Wednesdays and Thursdays.