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Beyond the gardens there is expansive woodland with looped trails and natural play areas, there is den building and a Canadian camp and opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. This is why all of the rooms are of a comfortable, but modest size. My entire first flat I lived in would fit into one of the rooms, so do not go thinking Churchill lived in a little two up two down here people…! It is just smaller than what I imagined someone of such fame to live in though. I think the fact that the rooms are more “normal”, give Chartwell it’s charm.
Many books were gifts from other world leaders and dignitaries. The gardens surrounding the house comprise 8 hectares , with a further 23 hectares of parkland. They are predominantly the creation of the Churchills, with significant later input from Lanning Roper, Gardens Adviser to the National Trust. The Victorian garden had been planted with conifers and rhododendrons which were typical of the period. The Churchills removed much of this planting, while retaining the woodlands beyond.
Butterflies and bees at Chartwell
Outside of the family, the most interesting inhabitant of the house is Jock the Cat. Or rather Jock VI. Churchill owned many pets throughout his life, but near the end of his days, he received an orange marmalade cat named Jock, a present from his former secretary Sir John ‘Jock’ Colville. It was decided that there must always be a Jock, orange marmalade cat living at Chartwell.
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.
All Creatures Great and Small: The Animals of Chartwell
Apparently he used to say that he could lay ‘200 bricks and 2000 words a day’. He also said that bricklaying helped him to cope with depression. The walled garden was used to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers for the family and their staff and visitors. I love visiting these places any time of the year as they always change.
The Churchill family had vast grounds that came with Chartwell. Next to the house is a walled garden where they would have planted some fruits, veg and herbs and anything they would have liked. Rather than sitting on a long rectangular table, the Churchill family preferred a more intimate round dining table with armchairs. This set was specifically designed for the family and manufactured by Heals, which still exist today. The house definitely takes you back in time, to the time when Churchill would have spend his time at Chartwell plotting how to become prime minister as well as how to defeat the Germans.
Churchill
Throughout the garden are a few status located, some of them depicting Churchill. Clementine vacated Chartwell a few months after her husbands death. Final preparations were put into place to open the house to the public, which happened in the summer of 1966. While walking through the library I noticed a book of English Verse on the shelf.
When the house passed to the National Trust after Churchill’s death the Churchill family requested that there should always be a ginger cat with a white bib and white socks called Jock living there. Churchill was very interested in butterflies and wanted to encourage them in his garden. He bred a range of butterflies at Chartwell and today you can visit the small butterfly house there to learn about butterflies including how to raise your own at home.
Chartwell
The property became known as ‘Well Street’ in the late 1700s and was used as a foundling house as part of the London Foundling Hospital until in 1836 when it was sold to the Drinkwater Bethune family from Surrey. The next owners, the Campbell Colquhouns, renamed the house Chartwell and made huge developments and alterations to the house and land before it was purchased by Winston Churchill in 1922. A dark, red-brick, ivy-clad villa on a hill, Chartwell was said to embody Victorian architecture at its least attractive.
Gardens are partly accessible, steep slopes and steps in places. Map of accessible route is available from the Visitor Centre. Home of the largest single collection of Winston Churchill’s paintings. Interactive displays offer insight into Churchill the painter. Fun fact – The Churchills requested that there should always be a “Marmalade” cat in residence at Chartwell House.
Greater destruction occurred in the woodland surrounding the house, which lost over seventy percent of its trees. On 5 April 1955, Churchill chaired his last cabinet, almost fifty years since he had first sat in the Cabinet Room as President of the Board of Trade in 1908. The following day he held a tea party for staff at Downing Street before driving to Chartwell. On being asked by a journalist on arrival how it felt no longer to be prime minister, Churchill replied, "It's always nice to be home". For the next ten years, Churchill spent much time at Chartwell, although both he and Lady Churchill also travelled extensively. His days there were spent writing, painting, playing bezique or sitting "by the fish pond, feeding the golden orfe and meditating".
I found Chartwell’s Death of a Hero exhibition about his death, funeral and legacy very interesting, especially as my parents have told me about their memories of his death and the huge impact which it had on people at the time. I certainly wouldn’t complain living in a house like this and having nice grounds in the middle of the countryside. I visited Chartwell during Christmas time in 2019 and the house was decorated with lots of Christmas trees, flower arrangements and many crafty and inspiring christmassy ideas such as the “champagne tree” you can see in the Dining Room picture.
The picture depicts the Churchills breakfasting together, which in fact they rarely did, and Churchill's marmalade cat, Tango. The tradition of keeping a marmalade cat at Chartwell, which Churchill began and followed throughout his ownership, is maintained by the National Trust in accordance with Churchill's wishes. The house has been restored and preserved as it looked in the 1920–30s; at the time of the Trust's purchase, Churchill committed to leave it, "garnished and furnished so as to be of interest to the public". Rooms are decorated with memorabilia and gifts, the original furniture and books, as well as honours and medals that Churchill received. Lady Churchill's long-time secretary, Grace Hamblin, was appointed the first administrator of the house.
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