I love London but I wouldn't go as far as calling myself a city girl, I'm a country girl at heart, hence the name of this blog! As soon as I have a few days off work, I get 'countryside cravings' {you can take the girl out of Hertfordshire but you definitely can't take Hertfordshire out of the girl}. Living in London is great but I really miss fields and forests and fresh air. I miss walking out of my front door and not hearing a bloody police siren! I miss the unpolluted air and I miss the peacefulness that you instantly get when you leave the city. So as soon as we get a day off together Rob and I will jump at the chance to drive into the nearby countryside. Not too far, just far enough to be somewhere a bit more peaceful.
A month or so ago we decided to drive into Kent and visit Chartwell, one of the many properties owned by The National Trust {we really need to get on and purchase our NT membership, having visited several properties this past year I'm sure it would save us a fair bit of money!}. Situated just outside of Sevenoaks, Chartwell is the former home of the Churchill Family and is where Winston Churchill himself lived from 1924 until his death. Today, both the house and it's vast beautiful gardens and rural grounds remain well maintained. If you're in Kent and you're after a stroll, a bit of history, a cup of tea and some cake then this really is the ideal spot.
We arrived around 2pm and being a Sunday the car park was rather busy but we nabbed a spot near to the gift shop and cafe, and wandered up to purchase our tickets. We didn't really fancy doing the tour of the house {don't get me wrong, I love old properties but you've got to be in the mood for wandering around them haven't you?!} so we decided to purchase tickets for the gardens only. It was quite cloudy but fairly mild and seemed a shame not to spend the afternoon outside. The gardens are large, they surround near enough all of the property and are really, really pretty with ponds, rose gardens, flower beds and even a kitchen garden. The immediate gardens next to the house itself are all immaculately maintained with an old croquet lawn. Stone pathways are lined with flower beds and rockeries, a true English countryside garden. Set further back from the house are some large fields, slightly more rugged and rural but beautiful all the same.
There are several walks you are able to choose from, we chose to do a circular route which took us around the perimeter of the estate and allowed us to get some lovely views from the highest point up at the top of the fields. On our way around we passed Churchill's old art studio which is home to hundreds upon hundreds of Winston Churchill's paintings. I never knew he was an artist, infact I knew very little about him at all before we visited Chartwell it sounds like he was a very interesting character. The sweetest old man stood offering information about each of the paintings & gave a bit of information about Churchill's life. It was a nice way to break up our little walk & quite interesting too.
Sometimes I'm not really fussed if the weather in England is gloomy, I love putting on a big coat and some boots/wellies and enjoying the countryside.
I loved this old statue of Churchill. I'm not sure if I was allowed to have climbed it {whoops} but it made for a good photo opportunity!
And now for the best part - placed spontaneously amongst the trees are gorgeous wooden swings hanging from the branches with rope!! We had so much fun testing them out. They're all at different heights and there's even a double swing so that you and your loved one can swing together, face to face! How romantic is that?! We felt like big kids, it was so much fun! Although I'm sure I am worse with heights nowadays than I ever was when I was little because I was actually quite scared being up so high! But what could beat these views...
As we walked back down through the fields and up towards the car-park, we spotted pheasants! Excuse my rubbish photography, it was so difficult zooming in with an iPhone 5!
After a lovely Sunday afternoon at Chartwell there was nothing we could have wanted more than a hearty roast dinner, so we stopped off at the The White Hart in Brasted. They do amazing roast dinners, I'd definitely recommend!
Chartwell is such a lovely place to spend an afternoon, we were really impressed. Long live the National Trust! You can find lots more information on their website here.
Lydia xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment