Sunday 31 July 2016

Chartwell - the home of Winston Churchill

The grounds of Chartwell

We travel to Kent today on a high speed train from Penrith (Cumbria) to London Euston and then on the slow rattler to Hurst Green in Surrey. Generally the train service has been excellent and the fact that we can cover almost the entire length of England in a couple of hours is amazing. We copy the locals and buy food on the station platforms and not in the train 'shop', which is typical rail food and has probably been languishing on their shelves for many years! Our destination is Westerham in Kent, home to General James Wolfe (a British army officer renowned for defeating the French and saving Quebec in Canada during the Seven Years War. Clearly the British expansion into Canada failed in Quebec, which is now proudly a Canadian French quarter! Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister during WW2, is nearby. We discover a lovely walk (3 kms), maintained by the National Trust, from Westerham through the beech woods to the house and gardens.
Walking means we can justify eating cream teas at our destination!
 
The home of Sir Winston and Lady Clementine Churchill is preserved as it was in the 1930s and is filled with their memorabilia, original furniture and some highly amusing letters written by Churchill to his minions.
 
 
 
 
 



 
Maintenance work is underway to replace leaking windows and make the building watertight. 
 

From that to this?

 




 

 

This is Churchill's contemplative pond - many of his paintings and writings were dreamed up here

The kitchen gardens

One of many herbaceous borders

 




No comments:

Post a Comment