Surrey Homes | SH105 | October 2023 | Interiors & Bathrooms Supplement inside

Notebook
Take note! We’ve rounded up the best
of what to see and do near you
Persian Paradise
We’re excited to hear about A
Persian Paradise – the new exhibition
opening at National Trust’s Sissinghurst Castle
Garden. Travel back to the 1920s with writers Vita
Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson and explore their time
together spent in Persia (now Iran) during a period of significant
change. Vita and Harold were two of the most high-profile cultural
figures of their generation and, through their writing, channelled a
growing fascination for all things Persian. Their holiday snaps provide
many glimpses of life that were transformed in the following decades. Vita’s
search for wildflowers and her rummaging through bazaars – which she
preferred to the gossip of the colonial English Drawing Room – enabled
her to create a unique castle garden and home at Sissinghurst. Head
along to see this legacy in two transformed exhibition spaces filled with
a dazzling display of vibrant ceramics, music, projected film, letters,
archival photographs and more. Discover how Vita and Harold’s
trips to Iran became a defining time in their lives that would
later inspire much of their artistry, as well as that of others,
including Virginia Woolf. A Persian Paradise runs
daily from 14 October until 24 March 2024.
nationaltrust.org.uk/sissinghurst
Liquid Spirit
For the month of October, Silent Pool
have distillery tours on Thursday,
Friday, Saturday and Sunday each
week. Find out all about Silent Pool’s
Liquid Garnishes which are intensely
aromatic blends of botanical oils
designed to elevate the aroma – and
thus the flavour – of your G&T.
There’s no need to add a fruit or
herbs, simply spritz your Liquid
Garnish across the top of your drink
and let the mist work its magic.
The distillery’s Aroma Masterclass
(on 27th October) is led by a gin
expert and enables you to get creative
and blend your very own custom
liquid garnish to take home. The
botanical oils, bottles and knowhow
are all provided in this fun
and enlightening experience – a
great one to enjoy with friends.
You’ll also sample the Silent Pool
Gin Expressions range, find out
how botanicals are used in gin, and
explore the role of aroma in relation
to enhancing our sense of taste.
silentpooldistillers.com
SO KIND
ARTED
Kent Painters Group
(KPG) is a not-for-profit
organisation started over 30 years
ago to raise money for local mental
health charities. To date they have raised
£330,000. Once again you will be able
to purchase art from Kent’s leading
artists and sculptors, and this time
you will also be able to have a coffee,
lunch or even walk in the beautiful
surrounding countryside. At the
opening drinks, on Friday 27th
October between 6-9pm, you can
meet some of the artists as well
as having the first opportunity to
purchase their art. Following this they
will be open on the Saturday (12-
4pm) and Sunday (10am-4pm).
kentpaintersgroup.co.uk
©National Trust Images/Richard Holttum
istockphoto.com/Elena Efremova