Buying ourselves a national trust pass for the year was one of the best gifts ever. We had been given some money over Christmas by both our parents and instead of frittering it away, we decided to use it for something that would last all year. The first stop on our year of NT was the amazing Monk’s House home and garden of Leonard and Virginia Woolf.
As you might know from my last post, I have been obsessing over all the Bloomsbury artists who came to live in our beautiful Sussex county back in 1916. We visited Charleston a few years ago on our anniversary and I was hooked! Ever since then we have been meaning to take an afternoon and see Monk’s House and finally, we did.
Set down a pretty country lane in Rodmell East Sussex, Monk’s House is a beautiful 17th-century white weatherboarded cottage. The garden is wonderful, not huge – but there is a meadow, an orchard, pond, borders, an allotment, greenhouses and of course Virginia’s ‘room of ones own’ her writing retreat. The sun was beaming all around and I just wanted to lay down in the tall grasses and soak it all up.
There are lovely flint walls everywhere, apparently they used to be out buildings (the house was previously owned by a miller and his family).
Lilacs were in full bloom and cow parsley was waving in the breeze. Virginia’s writing lodge has double doors that open out to views right over the countryside.
We were so lucky to visit on such a bright spring day and as it was midweek – not too many people to share it with either! Every time I visit a new garden my mind starts bubbling over with ideas and a plant wishlist that goes on and on!
Visiting Leonard and Virginia’s garden definitely confirmed my wishes for a brick pathway, more wild and frothy planting, a pond and a few fruit trees.
When we got to the greenhouses I almost laid down on the floor and claimed squatters rights. On one side a perfectly pale mint green chair was surrounded by palms, cacti and succulents.
In the other side – pots and pots of geraniums (my favourites) in a bright scarlet with their green velvet leaves.
So many colours and textures, lush with green and bursts of orange, yellow and neon pink.
The Woolfs bought Monk’s House for the ‘shape and fertility and wildness of the garden’. Indoors you will find a home full of their favourite things – treasures handmade for them by friends and family and the house still full of vibrancy – seems as if they may have just stepped out for a while.
Sun shines into the colourful and painted rooms, every wooden surface, floor and ornament gently worn over time. Hand painted vases and embroidered frames, artworks and pressed flowers.
Virginia’s bedroom is so tranquil and with windows out on both sides to the garden, the perfect place to contemplate the seasons passing outside.
Phew, that was a lot of photos, I hope you liked them, now – get over there and visit as soon as you can. x
