Today Louise and I drove down to Kent to visit Chartwell, the home of Winston Churchill. I’d first heard about it in Goa, when I read the biography of Churchill by Roy Jenkins; which for some reason is on sale in most English bookshops in India.An interesting fact was that even though Churchill was a leader of the free world, and one of the saviours of Western civilisation; at the end of the war in 1945, he was bankrupt, and it looked like Chartwell would have to be sold. A group of friends got together to buy the house for the nation, on the understanding that Churchill and his wife could continue to live in it for as long as they lived. So now it’s managed by the National Trust.
It’s a fine building, with a wonderful aspect, looking across the Kentish Wheld, the garden of England. Inside though it seems quite small, not the house of a great man, and most guests had to stay in an annex in the garden. Most of it has been preserved just as it was when the Churchill’s lived in it, so it’s furnished in a rather dated but pleasant sixties style. A walking tour takes you through the rooms, which are decorated with paintings by Churchill, framed letters and signed pictures of famous people. One letter from Roosevelt to Churchill starts ‘Dear Churchill’ so things were pretty formal in those days! In one room his uniforms are on display, as he enjoyed dressing up; another has some of the many gifts he was given by leaders around the world, including some very nice cut crystal glass from Joe Stalin.
Afterwards you can stroll around the lovely gardens, which lead down to a lake. A small bridge connects to an island on which a sitting room has been laid out. One of the founders of the National Trust wanted gardens to be like sitting rooms but outdoors, and on this island they’ve supplied the furniture!
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