The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965), the son of Lord Randolph Churchill and an American mother, was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. After a brief but eventful career in the army, he became a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1900. He held many high posts in Liberal and Conservative governments during the first three decades of the century. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty - a post which he had earlier held from 1911 to 1915. In May, 1940, he became Prime Minister and Minister of Defence and remained in office until 1945. He took over the premiership again in the Conservative victory of 1951 and resigned in 1955. However, he remained a Member of Parliament until the general election of 1964, when he did not seek re-election. Queen Elizabeth II conferred on Churchill the dignity of Knighthood and invested him with the insignia of the Order of the Garter in 1953. Among the other countless honours and decorations he received, special mention should be made of the honorary citizenship of the United States which President Kennedy conferred on him in 1963.
Churchill, a gifted amateur painter, wrote Painting as a Pastime (1948). An autobiographical account of his youth, My Early Life, appeared in 1930. Winston Churchill died on January 24, 1965.

Nobel Lectures, Literature 1901-1967, Editor Horst Frenz, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1969

Chartwell was the home of Winston Churchill and his family for over 40 years. Churchill was already nearly 50, with a remarkable career behind him , when, four years after the end of the First World War, on the verge of deserting the Liberal Party and returning to the Conservative benches he came upon Chartwell. 

The view from the house stretches to the Weald, a little valley from which on oone side rises a clear spring, the Chart Well. He purchased the home bearing this name in 1922.

Churchill was captivated by Chartwell from the moment he set eyes on the valley, protected by the sheltering arm of beautiful beech woods and by the house set on the hillside with sweeping views over the Weald of Kent towards the South Downs. The Chart Well which rises on the western boundary of the site fed the existing lake and Churchill recognised the potential the property provided for further lakes, dams, swimming pools, water gardens and a way of life far from the pressures of politics in London. Over the ensuing years he was the creator and artisan of many of the projects which make Chartwell the wonderful place it is today.

Chartwell was not only Churchill's source of recreation but also his 'factory' since throughout his tenure, whether in or out of political office, he was immersed in politics and worked endlessly on streams of speeches, newspaper articles and journals through which he waged his many political campaigns.

It was here during the wilderness years of the 1930s when, out of office and out of fashion he warned his countrymen of the Nazi menace and the need to be ready to combat it. Here he honed some of his finest speeches and produced his greatest books.

He laid out the fishponds and lakes, he built the walls and in his own words "never had a dull or idle moment".

He wrote many books at Chartwell including the history of his ancestors - the Marlboroughs, and the histories of the First and Second World Wars in many volumes. It was through these latter activities that he earned the majority of his living and kept his family and home in the style to which he aspired.

He also painted many of his 500 or so paintings at Chartwell. having  built a studio in the gardens at Chartwell which is enjoyed by visitors today, with over 150 of his paintings shown there.

As is customary with National Trust properties photography is not permitted within the House and details of the house itself can be found on the National Trust website.

Other sites worth visiting:  Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms and The Churchill Society website