Monk's House is situated in the village of Rodmell in Esst Sussex. It is roughly halfway along the road from Lewes to Newhaven.

Bus services
123 Lewes-Newhaven

By road
From A27 SW of Lewes, follow signs for Kingston and then Rodmell village, where turn left at Abergavenny Arms pub, then ½ml

By train
Southease (U) 1¼ml

On foot
South Downs Way within ¾ml

This small weather-boarded house was the home of Leonard and Virginia Woolf until Leonard's death in 1969. Virginia committed suicide at the age of 59 in the nearby River Ouse in 1941.

The rooms reflect the life and times of the literary circle in which they moved. The garden writing room where Virginia used to work now houses extracts from her diaries and a display of her photographs.

So is it worth a visit? Well, yes, I suppose. Certainly, it's a beautiful place and the gardens are a treat. But, to be brutally honest, there just isn't enough of the place for the National Trust to ask even £3.00 (as of May 2006 ) admission fee. I mean, you get to see four rooms!! Four rooms ! And a bench in the garden! And that's it. And when I went there was no guide to tell you about the history of the place though thinking about it due to the lack of rooms it would probaly be the quickest tour ever!

I know £3.00 doesn't buy you alot but come on, National Trust, it usually buys you something! I do think the Trust should review their admission prices as I'm sure they are putting alot of people off visiting places by rights they should be encouraging as many people as possible to see. £1.00 would have been a fair admission fee for Monk's House.

Oh, and one final thing. There's a visitor's car park which has a room for about 5 and a half cars, and as the road on which the house looks out on is a narrow residential street it does create traffic problems as we found out when we were stuck behind a lorry for 15 minutes.

Thanks for that National Trust.

• Charleston Farmhouse Exterior Photos
• Monk's House Exterior Photos

Recommended Reading:

• From the Lighthouse to Monk's House: A Guide to Virginia Woolf's Literary Landscapes
• The Hidden Houses of Virginia Woolf And Vanessa Bell