The National Trust has opened the doors of the historic South Cottage at Sissinghurst Castle Garden, near Cranbrook in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, for a final series of public tours. This limited-time event, which is open daily (subject to volunteer availability) until 25 February 2026, allows visitors to see the private 1930s home of the garden’s creators before it returns to being a private family residence.
The cottage has been presented as an immersive ‘living museum’ interpreted to represent a day in 1936. Visitors can walk through the rooms and encounter period-accurate sounds and scents — including tobacco and floral notes — and other nostalgic objects to evoke the feel of the house in that year.
This opening marks the end of an eight-year period of public access to the building, which was the personal retreat for Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson. According to the National Trust, the cottage will close to the public from 26 February 2026 so that members of the Nicolson family — including grandchildren Adam and Juliet Nicolson — can resume occupancy.
Because the building is small and fragile, access is managed with timed or limited-entry admissions and the National Trust operates a maximum of 12 visitors in the cottage at any one time. The exhibition focuses on the year 1936 — a time of national crisis — and includes artifacts and interpretive material that reflect Harold Nicolson’s role as a Member of Parliament during the Abdication Crisis of King Edward VIII.
