Winston Churchill was a great British leader and Prime Minister. In 1922 Sir Winston Churchill purchased Chartwell property, located in Westerham, Kent, just outside of London. This was his family home, and he spent as much time there as he could until his death. 

Chartwell is an example of ‘Victorian architecture at its least attractive, a ponderous red-brick country mansion of tile-hung gables and poky oriel windows’. In the 16th century Henry VIII is reputed to have stayed in Chartwell during his courtship of Anne Boleyn at nearby HeverCastle.

At Chartwell Churchill had the opportunity to do some landscaping involving the beautiful water area: a swimming pool, two lakes, a water garden and a rock garden.

Black Swans have been a feature at Chartwell since 1927. Today there are two Black Swans in the upper lake. At the south end of the upper lake there is a statue of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill made by Oscar Nemon.

The Rock Garden features water cascading over rocks of Forest of Dean Sandstone and was supplied by Garvin Jones, who had won a gold metal at the Chelsea flower show in 1948. The Lady Churchill visited the show and was inspired by his features. Consequently Garvin Jones installed his display at Chartwell free of charge.

The WaterGarden contains a Golden Orfe pond. Beside the Golden Orfe pond is a small blue chair and a bait box. This was one of Winston Churchill’s favourite places to sit and relax in the garden. He would spend hours feeding his Golden Orfe, which were supplied by Harrods in 1937.

Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden is a small plant garden and has an entrance to the Marlborough Pavilion, which is a small sandstone and clunch structure with two open sides. The interior embellishment portrays the battle of Marlborough.

The Kitchen Garden keeps as it was like in 1930’s and every fruit and vegetable is grown here both for ornamental purpose, and supplying to the Chartwell restaurant. There is a Golden Rose Walk running through the centre that was a gift given by their children for their golden marriage anniversary in 1958.

At the corner of the Kitchen Garden there is a small building called Marycot made by Churchill himself for his daughter to play there. Today Marycot and a small area in front of it are used for children to play. Bear in mind a wall at the bottom of the Golden Rose Walk towards to Marycot, that was partially made by Churchill himself.

Next to the Kitchen Garden there is a studio that displays Winston Churchill’s paintings, pictures and books. You can also learn Churchill’s family tree, Winston Churchill biography and speeches there.

At Lady Churchill’s Sitting Room, on the wall facing the entrance there is a big portrait of Sir Churchill, next which there is one of his oil paintings named Winter Sunshine that won first prize at an amateur painters’ competition in 1925 and gained his first entry at the RoyalAcademy’s Summer Exhibition in 1947.

A visitors’ book at the Entrance Hall is displayed in a glass box. It records many of the guests who came to Chartwell between 1924 and 1964. The famous signatories include American President Truman, British Prime Minister Lloyd George and British actor Laurence Olivier.

The Drawing Room was a main meeting place for Churchill’s family and their guests. Beside the original decoration chosen by Lady Churchill there are two very noticeable gifts: one is a crystal glass cockerel, the symbol of France, given by General de Gaulle; another is Charing CrossBridge painted by Claude Monet in 1902 and was a gift for Churchill.

At the Library there is a model of Port Arromanches in the middle of a wall. It is one of the artificial Mulberry harbours that Churchill was keen to develop and played such an important role in the Allied Invasion of Europe in 1944. A bust of Franklin Roosevelt is placed at a corner of a bookshelf.

Lady Churchill’s bedroom has a high barrel-vaulted ceiling and duck-egg blue colour scheme that makes the room spacious with a sense of calm. Next to the bedroom is the Ante-Room and Landing that was used to be Lady Churchill’s bath and dressing room. Now it contains China and other memorabilia, one of which is the robes she wore when she was made Baroness Spencer-Churchill in 1965.

The Museum and the Uniform Rooms were created out of three guest bedrooms after Churchill’s death to display many beautiful and valuable items connecting with Churchill, as well as some important moments in Churchill’s life, Winston Churchill poster, sayings and quote in world war II including the famous Winston Churchill iron curtain speech.

The Study is the heart of Chartwell as Churchill’s workshop, where he worked on five budgets as Chancellor of Exchequer, rehearsed speeches against Fascism and conceived much of his literary pieces. The Union Flag is hard to miss.

Down stairs on the lowest level of the garden’s wing is the Dining Room. The table and the chairs were designed especially for this room. The Golden Rose Book is set next to the exit that was part of the gift from their children for their golden wedding anniversary.

Next to the Dining Room is the Kitchen. The National Trust keeps the kitchen as it was like in Churchill’s time. Some of the cooking utensils are original with the family’s name, some are not.

At the shop of Chartwell you can buy books by Winston Churchill including Winston Churchill autobiography, biography, Winston Churchill quotation and the models of Winston Churchill bust. Union Flag, also known as Union Jack Flag, is for sale too.

Nearby Chartwell you can also visit Down House, the home of Charles Darwin and Knole, the childhood home of Vita Sackville-West

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