In April 1930, a young socialite - cheated of her inheritance by the laws of primogeniture - walked into a Kentish ruin; no electricity, no drains, a farmyard of "squalor and slovenly disorder"... and spent what money she had to buy it.

Thirty years later, Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson had made what her biographer called her "one magnificent act of creation" - ten garden rooms enclosed in old brick and yew; a tower for her books; and a Spring Garden that Harold called his "life's work".

This week, Geoff and Rory return to Sissinghurst; to the Tudor courtier who built the tower, the French prisoners who gave it its name, the marriage that conceived a garden... and the magical moment in April when the Lime Walk blossoms.

A spring gardens special - please join us!

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In this episode we travel to Bournville, the extraordinary model village laid out by George Cadbury on the southern fringe of Birmingham. Part garden suburb, part moral experiment, Bournville married vernacular Arts and Crafts architecture to a Quaker vision of dignified working-class life: light, air, gardens, schools and not a pub in sight!

Join us as we explore its origins, its architectural character, and the philanthropic convictions that shaped every cottage and cul-de-sac - and ask what this quietly radical corner of England still has to teach us about building well, and building decently, today.

If you enjoy tuning in, please consider supporting us by joining one of our membership tiers on our Patreon page - we love getting to know members of our community. Please also like, share and comment as you see fit. For more information, please visit our website.

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Some gardens demand attention. Rousham simply holds it. Tucked into the Oxfordshire countryside, this is a place where design and landscape speak in the same breath - where structure yields to softness and every view feels both composed and completely inevitable.

In this episode of The Country House Podcast, we sit down with Michelle from Woodsford Landscape Designs to unpick what makes Rousham so extraordinary: the planting philosophy, the sense of place, and that rare quality of a garden that feels as though it has always been there, waiting to be discovered.

If you enjoy tuning in, please consider supporting us by joining one of our membership tiers on our Patreon page - we love getting to know members of our community. Please also like, share and comment as you see fit. For more information, please visit our website.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.