Winston Churchill & Chartwell House

There has been a resurgence of interest in Winston Churchill associated with the 50th anniversary of his death on the 24 January 2015.

On our visit to the UK last year we visited The Cabinet War Rooms, his home at Chartwell House, and his birthplace at Blenheim Palace. This was part of our mini-focus on Winston Churchill. You can quite easily spend a day at each place.

This post focusses on Chartwell House and some key facts include:

The Churchills purchased the house in 1922 (5,000 GBP).
Renovations were undertaken across the next 15 years (30,000 GBP).
Churchill stated that he felt they couldn’t afford to live in Chartwell after the war, so a consortium of 17 wealthy friends purchased it for approximately 45,000-50,000 GBP and donated it to the National Trust. The deal stipulated that the Churchills could live at Chartwell for the rest of the lives at a nominal rent of 350 GBP per year.
Churchill requested that a ginger cat, named Jock, and with a white chest and four white feet always be found at Chartwell. The latest such cat took up residence in March 2014.
Churchill said he bought the house because of the view over the Weald of Kent.

Photos taken during our visit to Chartwell House are shown below (Clicking on each image will reveal a larger photo).

Churchill Monument
We passed by Churchill's monument after visiting the cabinet war rooms in late August 2014

Chartwell House - Front
On our visit we didn't see the newest incarnation of "Jock" the cat. Churchill requested that a ginger cat with a white chest and four white feet be found at Chartwell at all times.

Chartwell House - South West Side
The red brick look is pretty drab these days. People who have such houses tend to have them rendered with a light coloured plaster coating - well in Australia anyway.

Chartwell House - South East Side
Churchill's office is located in the upper left hand side of this photo.

Chartwell House - Rear
As one would expect of a National Trust property the grounds are kept in immaculate condition.

Weald-of-Kent
This is the view that Churchill so admired. He could see it from his office and the dining room. At the left hand end of the buildings shown is his painting studio which is open to the public.

Swimming Pool
This swimming pool is heated. One can only imagine the cost.

One of the larger ponds
The frog rotates slowly in a circle.

Canteen---Outdoor-Eating-Area
It was very pleasant to sit outside the canteen and eat our lunch. It is a typical National Trust canteen - good quality food at a reasonable price.

Canteen-and-Gift-Shop
The canteen can be seen on the right and the gift shop on the left. We purchased the Chartwell DVD here.

Admission-Building
The queuing lanes suggest Chartwell is busy during peak periods. We visited in late August and had no trouble. Unfortunately the weather was unseasonally wet and cold.

Fish-Pond
In his later years Churchill would relax in a chair by this pond and feed the golden orfe.

Blenheim Palace
The magnificent Blenheim Palace (http://www.blenheimpalace.com) home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

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Since our return home I have read Boris Johnson’s The Churchill Factor – How one man made history (written to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Churchill’s death). I had started Martin Gilbert’s In Search of Churchill: A Historian’s Journey before Johnson’s book arrived but I am yet to finish it. Roy Jenkins’ Churchill still awaits my attention.

I found Johnson’s book refreshing with its contemporary approach. For example, Johnson refers to Churchill’s home office at Chartwell and his group of researchers as his personal Google. The book challenges and largely refutes the main accusations levelled at Churchill by his critics. I will return to Gilbert’s book in time but it is a more difficult read as it is a very detailed historical account – fascinating but it requires commitment to read, whereas Johnson’s book was more attractive.

On the road we like to pick up DVDs on the theme we are exploring at the time. In this instance we overdid it a bit buying seven DVDs (three of those being in a boxed set). These DVDs included:

Churchill: The Man
Chartwell (Seems to be available at Amazon)
Blenheim Palace (as featured on Treasure Houses of Britain)
Churchill and the Cabinet War Rooms
The Complete History of World War Two (3 DVD set) – yet to watch

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Six Days in Prague

Summary of Six Days in Prague

Our eBook: Six Days in Prague can be found at:

Amazon (Kindle US), Amazon (Kindle UK), Amazon (Kindle AU), and Amazon (Kindle CA); Smashwords (EPUB), Smashwords also distributes to Oyster, Scribd, Yuzu, Blio and Inktera (formerly Page Foundry) and reaches OverDrive (world’s largest library ebook platform serving 20,000+ libraries), Baker & Taylor Axis 360, Gardners (Askews & Holts and Browns Books for Students), and Odilo (2,100 public libraries in North America, South America and Europe); Kobo; Apple iTunes ; Barnes and Noble

A printed version of this book is available at Blurb.

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My English friend asked me if I was a student of Churchill (apparently this is common) but no I am not, I just wanted an informed overview. In this case I think the first three DVDs provide the necessary information. You’ll find much of the information available focusses on his wartime years as Prime Minister and so it can become repetitive.

Winston Churchill was truly an inspirational figure: hard-working, energetic and committed in his life as a statesman, historian (writer), painter and bricklayer! There are two dimensions of Churchill that have provided a lasting impression for me: his love of and devotion to his home at Chartwell; and his work as a historian (writer). His daughter Lady Soames says “he kept them by his pen”. His writing was recognised in 1953 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. However my research into Churchill as a writer is only just beginning.

I was going to list some key facts about Churchill’s achievements but I soon realised that was absurd – there are just too many! It is far better to just list some key internet references: