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A successful fundraising appeal will ensure this historic collection can remain permanently at Chartwell for visitors and future generations to enjoy. Today the house and the grounds are lovingly taken care of by the National Trust. They seek to maintain the house and the grounds as Churchill loved them but also in a way that educates visitors into the kind of man Churchill was. Because of the timed entry system, the house does not get too crowded so you can linger and explore room by room. The National Trust has opened up to some guided tours in the later afternoons that will take you into rooms normally closed to the public .
He passed away one year later, just a few weeks after his 90th birthday on 24th January 1965. The National Trust took ownership of Chartwell actually 18 years before Winston Churchill passed away for a simple reason. The upkeep of the house and the large estate was simply too expensive. Chartwell belonged to Sir Winston Churchill and was his family home from 1924 until his death. A. L. Rowse described the picture in a record of his visit in 1955. Churchill had invited Rowse to comment on the Tudor sections of his A History of the English-Speaking Peoples and Rowse subsequently described the visit in a memoir.
Opening times for 17 December 2022
Take a look at the map of Chartwell to help plan your visit. Edenbridge and Oxted stations are accessible from London Victoria and London Bridge. Sevenoaks station has a regular fast train service from London Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge.
Churchill's own History describes only two visits during the war. The second, in 1943, was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Ivan Maisky, who drove down from London to deny charges made by the Polish government-in-exile of Russian responsibility for the Katyn massacre. The interior has been remodelled since the National Trust took over the property in 1966, to accommodate visitors and to enable the display of a large number of Churchillian artefacts. In particular, some guest bedrooms have been amalgamated, to allow the construction of the Museum room and the Uniform room.
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I enjoyed visiting Chartwell and learning more about Churchill as a person rather than just the politician. The house, rooms and gardens are presented much in the way they would have looked like and been used for in the 1930s. Churchill himself preferred to live at Chartwell rather than his flat in London, but in 1964 due to bad health, he had to move away from Chartwell.
And in Churchill’s mind, he was going to create his own English Arcadia. When you see Chartwell’s grounds today, you see it as Churchill intended. He sculpted every view, every garden feature; every building bears his stamp.
Great British Houses: Chartwell – The Beloved Home of Sir Winston Churchill – The Home That Was His Daily Inspiration
Lady Churchill had a love of roses, , and created a most beautiful rose garden to enjoy. A traditional English garden, the area has a feeling of calm about it. The warm sunshine that we were lucky enough to experience on the day we visited allowed us to sit too, as Clementine once did. Wisteria and lavender are sewn amongst the roses, creating a very English, bee loving area in the gardens. Both Clementine and Winston were apparently keen gardeners.
The Weald of Kent – The View that Inspired ChurchillIn addition to the gifts and Churchill’s artwork, there are some priceless works of art that Churchill collected and was gifted. He was given a Monet by his publisher for giving them worldwide publishing rights. It’s actually the only Monet in a National Trust property in Britain. The whole house was reconfigured in some way to make it the perfect home for Churchill and his family.
The British National Trust now owns Chartwell, after the consortium presented the property to the nation in 1966, and the house remains much as it was when Churchill lived there. Many personal mementos around the house evoke the memory of this great statesman – his paintings in the garden studio, his books in the library and pictures of Churchill with famous visitors to Chartwell including Charlie Chaplin and Lawrence of Arabia. The grounds include Lady Clementine Churchill’s rose garden, the lakes Churchill himself created and the Golden Rose Walk, a Golden Wedding anniversary gift from their children. Chartwell was clearly somewhere where Churchill loved to spend time as he commented that “a day away from Chartwell is a day wasted". Inside, they – as visitors would today – found a large but comfortable family home, with relatively modest rooms and narrow doorways. It is, of course, a large estate by the standards of the average British home, but it is nothing at all like the grandeur of other stately homes like, say, Blenheim, where Churchill’s ancestors the Dukes of Marlborough lived.
There’s a National Trust cafe and gift shop outside the main entrance to the gardens and there’s also a picnic area. The opening of the house required the construction of facilities for visitors and a restaurant was designed by Philip Jebb, and built to the north of the house, along with a shop and ticket office. Alterations have also been made to the gardens, for ease of access and of maintenance. The Great Storm of 1987 caused considerable damage, with twenty-three trees being blown down in the gardens.
There are paths through the woods to lead you to the various points of interest. In the middle of the woods is a crater left by a bomb which fell here during WWII. Chartwell may have been the target of the bomb or it may have been intended for nearby Biggin Hill airport which was an RAF base. The crater is now home to a climbing net and a swing watched over by seats carved from tree trunks. Between the lakes and the woodland there are six beautifully-sited tree swings which are fun to play on.
The current occupant of the office is Jock VI who took over from his predecessor in 2014. The current Jock is a rescue who loves living at Chartwell, though he’s prone to mischief. Apparently, he likes to hide under Lady Churchill’s bed, which makes him a naughty kitty as they’re silk antiques. Churchill employed eight secretaries in the house – it’s how he managed to write so many books.
The highest point of the estate is approximately 650 feet above sea level, and the house commands views across the Weald of Kent. The view from the house was of crucial importance to Churchill; years later, he remarked, "I bought Chartwell for that view." Tickets to enter the house at Chartwell can be pre-booked online and are also available on the day from the Visitor Centre on a first come, first served basis. Woodland clearing, tree veteranisation and nature surveys are just a few ways the countryside team work on the estate to improve it for the benefit of wildlife. The Trust’s story at Chartwell began whilst Winston Churchill and his family were still in residence.
It’s pretty easy to get there from London but it requires a train trip. We recommend taking a train to Sevenoaks station as it has a regular fast train service from London Charing Cross, Waterloo East and London Bridge and there are ample taxis waiting outside the station when you arrive. Grab a taxi and have them take you to Chartwell and if you have time, Hever Castle is also nearby and worth a visit. The Taxi driver will be happy to wait for your or return at a scheduled time. To the south is the croquet lawn, previously a tennis court—Lady Churchill was an accomplished and competitive player of both, although Churchill was not. Beyond the lawn are several structures grouped around the Victorian kitchen garden, many of which Churchill was involved in building.
This is reflected in the art-deco dining room which only seats up to 10 people. Incidentally, the dining room doubled as a film room – they’d close the curtains and have the perfect room to show films. After World War II, Churchill was broke when he was kicked out of office. They made improvements to the house for him – like adding an elevator for the aging leader. They also banded together to buy the house for him to improve his finances. It was then donated to the National Trust with the proviso that Churchill and his wife could live there until they died.
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