Virginia Woolfe said Knole looked like an entire village. She set "Orlando" here, a fable about Vita. This is the ancestral home of the Sackville-Wests--for roughly 400 years. It was built by an Archbishop of Canterbury...or started, shall we say. It has 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 courtyards...well, you get the picture.

Vita grew up here. Hers is the only soul I know in literature that became one with a place. Just like me. And Scarlett O'Hara. Knole lived in herS veins. But she couldn't inherit, being of the female persuasion. The House went to a cousin, and then to the National Trust. (Although a cousin, the current Lord Sackville, still lives in about a third of the "house." That's roughly 100 rooms.)

Vita went to Sissinghurst and took revenge by creating a garden and a home that will live within you forever once you've walked there. I loved seeing Knole. Check the website and make sure you go on a day when the garden is open. But it won't change your life the way Sissinghurst can.

Then on to Hever Castle. Truly Tudor. Featuring a portcullis and a moat! Set among 100s of acres, this is the castle where Anne Boleyn grew up. It looks perfect on the outside--but smaller that you thought it would be (I argue it's the size again the immensity of the landscaping.). You walk over the drawbridge, into a Tudor courtyard, and into a stunning home. Rebult, refurbished, re-created for the Astors n 1905. They lived here off-and-on until the 1960's, and Hever is one castle that I can actually imagine living in. Inside it runs from historically evocative to visually stunning. The height of Edwardian entertaining must have put mere royals to shame. I'd like to visit in the Jazz Age.

And then you step back outside and enter the gardens. If you have all day, you can spend it here. I had hours and I used them well. Italien, water, rose, herb...and green everywhere.