Sissinghurst's White Garden blooms in full just once a year. It is filled with old roses who give all early and do not rebloom in the season. It is filled with a myriad of other gorgeous white blooms, but the rose week it is magnificent.

It bloomed the week I was there. I told you I am a lucky girl.

There is no short way to describe Sissinghurst. It was a farm/ruin when Vita and Harold bought it (from my B&B host's great-uncle). They created a home/garden, working for 40 years, compiling all the ideas and knowledge they'd stored during Harold's far-flung diplomatic posts, plus reading, plus friends, plus plus. If you're a gardener, you know. If you're not, there's no way to explain. Have you read "Portrait of a Marriage" yet? I told you to go read it. Even if you hate gardens. Harold was in the room when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. He thought conditions would lead to a second world war. Hmmm....

Now go look at the pictures. Imagine Vita writing in the Tower. Imagine the Home Guard standing post there during the Battle of Britain. Imagine when it was all a ruin in a field.