Greek odyssey

For decades Delos felt like a part of Sissinghurst without a story. Flushing for a moment with spring bulbs, astrantias and martagon lilies, it was a shadowy place on the cold side of a tall wall and a poor neighbour to the brilliance of the White Garden. It was a garden that, through time and circumstance, had lost its way and lost the essence of what Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson had originally dreamed of. The couple loved the Mediterranean, its landscapes, plants and histories and in 1935 they visitedproved such a source of inspiration that, upon their return, Vita and Harold resolved to emulate the atmosphere of the island in one of the garden rooms.