Sissinghurst - from 3rd hottest to 2nd coldest!

We rushed off down to Kent on Monday because it looked like it might be sunny - and we've not seen much sun of late! We paid our first visit of the year to Sissinghurst Castle Gardens.

Last year we visited towards the end of the UK's third hottest March since records began and I enjoyed sketching daffodils next to the Moat sat in the sunshine with bare arms!  See Sissinghurst Moat and Orchard in Spring sunshine.

This year we had the UK's second coldest March on record!  Heavy snow covered a lot of the country and everywhere else was just very cold.  As a result, we've only just started to venture out to look at gardens - if for no other reason than it's been so cold there's very little to look at!  Everything is about 3-4 weeks behind where it would normally be.  I'm not in the least bit surprised to see that the National Trust has cancelled the Bluebell and Wild Flower Walk planned for this weekend.

On Monday, we arrived late morning and after a quick visit to the veggie garden and the nursery and the purchase of some narcissi and tulips, we had lunch in the Granary Restaurant.  The nice thing about the food is that this is supplied by Sissinghurst's own vegetable plot and tenant farmer.  So nothing travels very far!

This is my sketch done over lunch.  It's the view from the windows overlooking the fields which are part of the farm.  It's very odd because it almost looks like it's Autumn despite the fact it's the third week of April!  Compare it to Spring fields from Sissinghurst to see what I mean.

Sissinghurst - The view from the restaurant 22 April 2013 1.00pm

This weekend I'll be publishing another post about the visit - with my sketch of the Rose Garden - and a photo of me sketching it taken by "he who must not be bored while I sketch" from the top of the Tower

In the meantime here are a few photos of the gardens this week.

The Orchard at Sissinghurst

The Moat Walk, Moat and Tower at Sissinghurst

Lime Walk at Sissinghurst