Tag: Sir Winston Churchill

Now, I must admit, I have never been a big fan of Churchill. I’ve never forgiven him for ruining a whole day due to his state funeral. I was coming up to ten years old, and all I remember of that day is sombre music on the radio, and there was nothing, I mean nothing else to do. So depressing! The world stopped, and I thought, who is this man that can do this?

Okay, I’ve got that out of my system, but as a nearly ten year old, I didn’t really understand (or want to know) who this man was, but that day haunted me, and I’ve obviously never got over it! Second thing – I only associated Churchill with war, which seemed to obsess my parents’ generation. I realise now, of course, how much it affected them. There was still rationing when my brother was born. When the air-raid siren on top of the local police station was tested (which I remember as a child), how my mum hated it. Thirdly, I have been to Chartwell before with my mum and dad, many years ago, but I barely remember it, and I wonder if that too has been blotted out of my mind due to my prejudice against him! I remember standing in the garden, and that’s all. So, why, you might ask, did I recently visit? Well, a friend was keen, and I never refuse a day out!

Has my opinion changed? I have become more sympathetic, and I love the fact that he was such a family man. I’m never going to be his biggest fan, but I can live with it! Maybe I have laid the ghost to rest.

Chartwell had been owned by the Churchill family since 1922. It was only in 1964, a year before he died, that he moved to his flat in London, due to ill health. You can read more about Churchill here. Of course, there is more to Churchill than just war. He was Prime Minister. I learned that he switched political parties, he suffered from depression and the only thing to help with that was painting. And he was a family man. In the gardens is a cute brick built playhouse he had built for his children.

The house has beautiful rooms, and the views are spectacular. Who ever said Kent is flat? There are some very hilly parts to Kent. I expected very masculine rooms where Churchill worked and plotted the way war was going, but I was surprised by how homely it all felt. It wasn’t all leather and wood! I also marvelled at how industrious Churchill was – how many books he wrote and how many pictures he painted. How did he have time?

There is a museum with a lot about Churchill’s life, especially his the military life and all the organisations he was a member of. There is a whole case of uniforms and, of course, his cigars.

Outside the gardens is Churchill’s studio. At first he had only a small studio, part of the workmen’s cottages. He put windows on the roof to add more light. Now this is the exhibition space for his many paintings. Churchill did not start to paint until he was 41. Encouraged by his sister-in-law, it became a lifelong hobby, and he took his box of paints and canvasses with him when abroad. Some of the paintings are unfinished, like professional artist’s sketches, and sometimes he went back and started again. Here you can compare the unfinished with the finished. They are remarkable paintings. Churchill never painted for profit or to display. This was something he did for himself. Around the garden and grounds there are seats placed where Churchill would sit to paint. And what views there are to paint at Chartwell.

The National Trust acquired Chartwell eighteen years after Churchill’s death. These days there is a super cafe, National Trust Shop, secondhand bookshop and the all important toilets. There are lovely walks you can take into the woodlands. My friend and I took one of these paths and came across swathes of bluebells. Looking back at the house from there, you can see why Churchill loved this place so much.

I loved the house and studio, and the surrounding gardens and countryside are beautiful. The house has a lovely feel about it, a good atmosphere, homely. This must have been a place to relax in away from London and all politics and war for Churchill. A place of family, and his beloved painting. We heard a talk in the studio about Churchill’s art, and he was friends with Sir William Nicholson (father of Ben Nicholson who worked with and married Barbara Hepworth). In fact, Sir William was Churchill’s mentor, but when Nicholson suggested using a more muted palette, Churchill decided to stick with what he liked. I admire him for that. You can see both artists’ pictures of the view of the swimming pool – I much prefer Churchill’s! It made me smile because Sir William’s son, Ben did the same with ‘primitive’ artist Alfred Wallis, but Wallis also went his own way!