Chartwell, Westerham

A great place for the kids to run about and while the house can be a bit tricky to negotiate with tinys its fascinating to go round. At busy times though be prepared to shuffle a bit. However underneath there is an exhibition you can go round at your own speed and in the walled garden you can visit the play house Winston Churchill built for his daughters. We have managed to spend the whole day here espically in the summer holidays when they have events on without even going in the house. The restaurant is great and very child friendly!

Three words - National Trust membership! It has got to be the best family Christmas present we have ever received. Sunday 15th May, 1pm – Gilles, my four year old hyperactive son, is climbing the walls again. Honestly that boy has so much energy, he wears me out just watching him. We ask ourselves; hmmm what can we do to burn off some of that steam? Out comes that trusty old National Trust book again. This time we pick Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill’s family home. This will be our second visit as we liked it so much the first time round. Flask of tea and sarnies packed, membership card in hand and we were ready to roll. We arrive and take a stroll through the Hillside Gardens, casting an eye over the many types of trees and plant life. Next our focus is water - a serious passion in my son’s life. There are so many streams, ponds and lakes here that all seem to flow into each other. The ponds and lakes are filled with huge fish and as you walk down to the lakes you may just see some of them jumping out of the water; very impressive! On to the Kitchen Garden. Here my son quickly makes friends with other budding mini chefs in the playhouse and we are promptly served with a very colorful wooden vegetable stew and a slice of cake. The house is so much fun for the children and also cleverly educational as it sits in amongst a real vegetable garden where everything from potatoes to beans and various herbs are grown. It was also Churchill’s daughter’s garden, so a little bit of history thrown in here too. Next we move on through Lady Churchill’s Rose garden where we take in the fantastic colours and scents of the various different types of roses. Suddenly I notice the time; it’s already 4pm and we haven’t even thought about venturing to the house yet. I have to confess that my love of a National Trust cream teas beat entry to the house this time, as it did the last time come to think of it… Oh well we’ll just have to come back again soon. Summary: Stunning scenery. Well worth a visit.

What a magical place this is! We spent the day here and hadn’t realised that there was so much for children to do. The gardens are beautiful with breath taking view over the lakes and countryside. There is a lovely little playhouse next to the kitchen garden (The Marycot), which belonged to Sir Winston Churchill’s youngest daughter Mary, she would play and cook here when she was a child. The little house has recently been re-created with a wooden table and chairs, an aga, wooden pots, pans and food for children to play with. My daughter then had a go at planting some lettuce seeds outside in the kitchen garden. She was also told she could take them home! She then had a go at potting some plants, which she absolutely loved! The main house is stunning but I would say probably not ideal for children as young as two, there are lots of precious items that you are understandably not aloud to touch! Don’t forget to pick up the children’s garden trail and question sheets with lots of things to spot along the way. There is a big restaurant next to the car park, you will also find toilets here with baby changing facilities. A wonderful place to take the family. Highly recommended!

We spent a lovely day last summer at Chartwell. Having covered World War II at school, as a History Day for my son, and GCSE topic for my daughter, both children enjoyed learning about the personal life of the man with the cigar. Visiting places like this makes history more interesting and more “real”. We took a picnic, and then spent several hours wandering through the different gardens. The children completed a quiz trail, which kept them keen and interested. The restaurant was really busy, so we missed out on tea and cakes. There were a several coaches full of tourists visiting on the same day, and we had timed entry tickets into the house.