It is great that today you can copy almost anything with the computer. I just copied this letter from Vita Nicolson, known generally as Vita Sackville-West, the English writer. My grandmother grew up in the Priest’s House in Sissinghurst castle with her 11 brothers. She was the youngest of them all. They were not rich people, all the boys earnt their living as farm labourers and my grandmother worked in the dairy of Sissinghurst castle. Time went on, and the castle came to the hands of Harold Nicholson, an english diplomat, who was married to Vita Sackville West. It seems my grandmother visited Sissinghurst castle. where Vita had made it a garden paradise. In the meanwhile Vita had become a well-known writer and she wrote this letter to my grandmother after a visit she paid to Vita. Of course this was many years ago and I just knew the facts a little from what my father had told me, and my grandmother.

Some years ago I visited the castle and I was quite proud of my grandmother’s history. She was a country girl that met her husband when he was visiting relatives in Sissinghurst. My grandfather was then living in London, Shoreditch, a cockney area and when they got married that became my grandmother’s new home. I often wondered how she survived the culture shock with a move from the countryside to the East End of London. The only trace I found of Vita Sackville-West and Harald Nicholson were their graves in the Sissinghurst church cemetary.