Monk's House is a rural cottage dating from the 16th century that was purchased by Leonard and Virginia Woolf to use as a country retreat from their home in London. They purchased the cottage in 1919, and Leonard continued to live here until his death in 1969. The house is filled with all of their possessions situated where they had been left. The cottage is located in East Sussex, and it is owned by the National Trust.
The cottage was quite small and did not contain any of the luxuries, but the Woolfs completed improvements. They installed an improved kitchen, hot water, and bathroom. The cottage came with nearly an acre of land, and they purchased a field next to it in the late 1920s so that lovely garden views over the hillside could be retained.
The front of the cottage is pictured below, and the greenhouse or conservatory was actually added onto the house after the Woolfs lived in it.
The cottage was a favourite place for them, and they spent much of their time here. When their flat in London was bombed in an air raid in 1940, they moved to the cottage permanently.
The first room was a living room with desks and tables set up.
This led into the main room from the hallway and main entrance or doorway into the house where there are the stairs and a dining table. (The upstairs of the cottage is always out-of-bounds, and caretakers live in the house.) A portrait of Virginia Woolf is located in this room.
This is the dining room.
The next room leads to a tiny kitchen. The kitchen put in by the Woolfs is hidden behind a screen as it currently serves as a working kitchen today.
After the kitchen, visitors must walk outside to visit the the bedroom. Virginia Woolf's bed and bedroom at Monk's House was built as an extension onto the cottage. Its original purpose was as a writing room, but she did not use it as one because she could not get inspired in the room.
After exploring the house, I went to walk around the garden at Monk's House. Apples, flowers, and vegetables were abundant in mid-July, and it is a lovely place to look around.
A statue dedicated to Leonard Woolf.
Beehives in the small orchard.
Virginia Woolf wrote her novels in the wooden lodge at the bottom of the garden. Visitors can walk inside it, and there is information with personal photographs inside this lodge that document the daily life.
The vegetable garden.
The church borders the property.
I enjoyed my visit to Monk's House. It's one of the smaller National Trust properties, and it must be booked in advance due to its small size. There is a second hand bookshop located here. It takes a good hour to wander around, though some people could spend much longer here depending on how many questions they ask the volunteers, how busy the house is, and if they want to enjoy a peaceful seat in the garden.
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