I visited National Trust's Chartwell property toward the end of April and was happy and surprised that we had sunny weather after many weeks of rain and a forecast that promised clouds. This was my second ever visit to Chartwell, and my first ever visit (Winston Churchill's Family Home, Chartwell (Kent, England)) was a couple of years ago in the height of summer. Visiting it at a different time of the year helped me to appreciate the differences of the location in the seasons. On this visit, I focused on a short walk around the property whereas my first visit was primarily about visiting the house.
There is a pleasant walk up beyond the lake to a hillside that overlooks the house, and there are fabulous views.
The bluebells were coming out on my visit, and there's a small patch of them here, but there is another trail that promises many more bluebells which I did not visit this time.
I walked around the lake.
On the other side of the lake is a statue of Churchill, and the cat came to greet me near here. Meet Jock VII. The family of Churchill requested that the property always have a ginger cat with white bib and socks as a tribute to the original Jock that was given to Churchill in 1966. This is the seventh cat named Jock here. This cat joined life at Chartwell last year, and he's a young and affectionate cat.
After petting the cat, I walked into the garden here. There was not much growing at the moment, but I did find a beautiful patch of late daffodils and a couple of tulips. This visit was toward the end of the daffodil season.
I caught a glimpse of the small orchard from the top of the hill where the house stands.
On the way back, I had a look at the ornamental pond.
I hope to complete the bluebell walk at Chartwell on a future visit, and I would not mind going into the house again here as there is so much to see. But, this concludes my sunny early spring visit of Chartwell. For additional posts about Chartwell on this blog, see:
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