Back from Kent travels

The weather was kind for my travels to Kent last week - it only rained when we were not outdoors! Back here in Cumbria the day has taken on a familiar kind of hue, as I write this, raining and windy. The temperature has also started to dip and there is more than a taste of Autumn in the wind.

However, back to Kent. The Reckless Gardeners managed to see three wonderful gardens - the amazing Sissinghurst, Penshurst Place and Leeds Castle. Each was very different in  style and appeal, each very distinctive in character and all very typical of what we consider the epitome of English gardening style.

Watch out for our full features in the next few weeks on the Reckless Gardener website - www.recklessgardener.com

Although it was dull when we visited Sissinghurst the dark skies did nothing to mask the glory of this wonderful garden. Created by Harold Nicholson and Vita Sackville-West from a ruin - the garden evokes their spirit at every turn. The 'hot garden'  (cottage garden) was indeed that - hot, flaming colours with wonderful dahlia - the white garden, now going over but still showing traces of the hallmark white roses. Those distinctive Elizabethan towers, the survival of this wonderful Tudor house and the complex misture of old and new, classical and romantic, public and private all come together to make Sissinghurst a unique garden to visit.

And so to Penshurst Place and gardens. Here is seven centuries of history and one familiy's love for their house and garden. There is much to see in both house and garden and afterwards you can enjoy a really good cup of tea in the pleasant restaurant.

Penshurst has passed through the hands of royalty and nobles down through the centuries. Following ownership by Henry VIII it was gifted to the influential Sidney family in 1552 and has been nurtured by descendants of that same family down to the current custodian Viscount De L'Isle.

There are 48 acres of grounds at Penshurst with 11 acres of walled and yew hedged garden 'rooms' providing a variety of colour and form throughout the seasons.

Finally we were presented with the magnificient Leeds Castle with its rolling landscape and yet another house with its history entwined through the royal houses of England and the glitterati of the centuries. Leeds Castle is the second most popular tourist destination in Kent after Canterbury Cathedral and certainly on the day of our visit there were plenty of crowds. The grounds are vast and there are plenty of places to get away from the trong and just enjoy the wonderful landscape.

Today, Leeds Castle is administered by a Trust after it was left to the nation by Lady Baillie. The Castle needs a day to completely see everything, the landscape will tug you one way the Castle another and to do both justice a couple of hours will not be enough. The castle seems to float on its 'moated island' and is perfectly complemented by its landscaped surroundings. Rather like at Sissinghurst, Lady Baillie bought a rather run-down castle in the late 1920s and brought it back to life, subsequently its rooms are a delight of 20s and 30s style which is very unusual in a building of this age. Her influence on the landscape is paramount - taking a run down estate and completely re-designing it into the lovely parkland and vistas we see today.

Each garden quite different, each garden presenting its own feel and character and each garden a pure delight. Perfect examples of the gardens of England to be enjoyed by generations to come.