Vita Sackville West and her garden at Sissinghurst with Rosemary Irving

Join Rosemary Irving for an illustrated talk examining the extraordinary life of Vita Sackville West and her famous garden at Sissinghurst in Kent. Novelist, poet, journalist, and immortalised as the inspiration for Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, Sackville-West combined literary accomplishment with a bold reimagining of garden design.

In partnership with her husband Harold Nicolson, she transformed the ruins of Sissinghurst Castle into a sequence of garden ‘rooms’ that redefined modern horticulture, later chronicled in her influential Observer column, In Your Garden. Today, her achievements endure both on the page and in the landscape, with Sissinghurst among the National Trust’s most cherished sites.

Born and educated in Melbourne, Rosemary Irving holds post-graduate qualifications in Veterinary Science. Having worked as a vet in rural Victoria, England and Canada, she is now a wool producer in Gippsland, a keen gardener, and photographer with a great interest in exploring English gardens.

Your ticket includes tea or Market Lane coffee served before the presentation, and time to browse our exclusive range of books, gifts, and homewares at TJC Emporium.

This event is presented on-site at The Johnston Collection. Please see your ticket for details. NOTE: Tickets for this event do not include access to our house museum, Fairhall. Guided tours of the current exhibition can be booked separately.

This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Image: Sissinghurst Castle. Photo: Rosemary Irving.