Its always nice to go to a place I’ve heard of but never had the chance to visit until now..
I’d heard of it of course, because of he historical connection and the fact its in Kent, and I now live in Kent so thought it the ideal time to visit.
The place is run by the National Trust and is Chartwell, which most people know is because Winston Churchill lived there. I knew very little more than that when I visited it.
I found out that Winston Churchill spent his early career travelling first as a soldier then as a journalist and then a long career as a politician and twice as Prime Minister. He bought Chartwell in 1922 and made it his family home for forty years. He was not only a statesman but also a husband, father, writer, painter and garden planner. Chartwell remained important to Churchill until his death in 1965 and the rooms of the house remain as they were when he lived there, filled with pictures, books, mementoes, the gardens reflect his love of landscape and nature from the lakes he created, the fish ponds, the flowers and fruit and vegetables in the walled garden. There is also a studio in the grounds, and the largest collection of his artwork exhibited there.
I thought it a very nice touch in this photo of Churchills chair below the painting of him, that there was an ashtray with an unlit cigar in it (you can just see it in bottom left hand corner of the photo)….
I loved the grounds and gardens too, very interesting to see all the colours in the borders of this very English garden.
And the various fish ponds and this one with the stepping stones, and seat was lovely. Churchill used to love sitting by the fish pond to feed the fish.
And one of the surprises of the day was when I went to Churchills studio, I knew he as talented in so many things but I hadn’t realised that he was such a good artist as well…
And the thing I had the biggest smile over, on that visit was the quote below ….
‘When I get to heaven I intend to spend a considerable portion of my first million years in painting, and so get to the bottom of the subject’ …. I could TOTALLY relate to that concept as an artist!!!
So it was an absolute delight of a visit to go to Chartwell and find out a bit more about Churchills life, and of course to explore another part of Kent that I’ve not been to before, I loved it all!
