Explore the house at Chartwell

The Study at Chartwell, Kent | © National Trust Images/James Dobson

Discover the house that Sir Winston Churchill, one of Britain’s best known leaders, bought for his family. Chartwell has been arranged and decorated as it was in the 1930s. Make your way through rooms that have been displayed as if the family have just left them. Explore the museum rooms filled with gifts to the Churchills, and see the personal possessions that Winston and his family kept here.

Tickets for the house

Tickets to enter the house at Chartwell are available on the day from the Visitor Centre and can also be pre-booked online. For more information please have a look at the Planning your visit to Chartwell page.

What can I see in the rooms of Chartwell?

Discover the house that Churchill called home, where he brought up his young family. As you make your way around the house uncover the home and family man behind the statesman.

These are the rooms you can explore on a self-guided tour with your house ticket. For exclusive access to Winston’s bedroom and other selected rooms, ask at the visitor centre or call on the day about availability for a highlights tour with a knowledgeable guide (weekdays only).

As we rely on our volunteers to help us open, on occasion some areas of the house might have to close for all, or part, of selected days. We always strive to open as much as we can and apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.

Sitting room

The first room you will enter on your visit to Chartwell, is the sitting room which is laid out as it was in the years before the Second World War, although was later used as a bedroom by Lady Churchill. On sunny days you can also head out onto the 'Pink' Terrace, which provides the panoramic views across the Weald of Kent which Churchill fell in love with.

Don't miss: Winter Sunshine, Chartwell (c.1924) by Winston Churchill. Entered anonymously in 1925 into a London exhibition for amateur painters, it won him first prize.

The sitting room annexe

Once used as part of the nursery wing, before becoming Sarah Churchill’s bedroom, the room has now been redisplayed to tell the story of family life at Chartwell as a whole. It is decorated with wallpaper recreated from the 1960s design originally chosen by Clementine for this room when it was her dressing room, and today shines a light on the lives of Diana, Randolph, Sarah, Marigold and Mary Churchill at Chartwell.

Don’t miss: After Churchill's bedroom, the room also boasts one of the best views of Chartwell. You'll be able to see Chartwell from a new angle, over the orchard and to the Kentish Weald beyond.

Lady Churchill's bedroom

A place of calm with its duck-egg blue colour scheme and high barrel-vaulted ceiling, Lady Clementine Churchill spent many hours here, dealing with her correspondence and the household accounts at her writing desk.

Don't miss: One of the last photographs taken of Sir Winston Churchill stands on the desk in Lady Churchill's bedroom, to be found next to a photograph of their much-loved daughter, Marigold who died in 1921 aged just two years old.

Drawing room

A place to meet as a family and their guests, the drawing room is a light and airy room looking out over the garden. Churchill was fond of playing bezique in here and the card table beyond the sofas is still set up for a game.

The inscribed book collection in the drawing room consists of 898 titles in some 920 volumes. They include inscriptions from friends, family and well-wishers along with presentation copies from authors who were friends and colleagues. The changing display highlights some of the most unique inscribed books in the Chartwell collection.

Don't miss: Charing Cross Bridge (1902) by Claude Monet, this was a gift to Churchill from Emery Reves after the Second World War.

The library

Used by both Churchill and his research assistants, many of the books in here were received as presents and many more bought to aid in his work. It also served as a waiting room for those who had travelled from London to visit the Churchills, including those who came in secret to bring Churchill top secret information, in the years leading up to the Second World War.

Don't miss: Bronze bust of American President and wartime ally, Franklin D Roosevelt.

The secretaries' office

The organisational hub of Chartwell, the secretaries’ office, was opened to the public for the first time in 2020. Created using archive photographs and historic inventories of the secretaries' office, the room is dressed as it would have looked in the 1950s. Once a hive of activity, it's from this room that Churchill's dedicated staff would have fielded calls from key political figures and produced endless correspondence.

Don’t miss: Have a go with a phone exchange and flip coloured switches to hear more first-hand accounts from the Churchill secretaries.

The dining room

The circular dining-table and armchairs to be found in the dining room were designed especially for the Churchills by Tilden and manufactured by Heals. The fabric on the chairs is an arum lily design which complement the vivid green curtains surrounding the room. This was the room where the Churchills entertained close friends and family, as well as hosting lunches and dinners for some of the biggest names of the twentieth century.

Don't miss: The Golden Rose Book, commissioned in 1958 by the Churchills' children to record the various golden and yellow roses in the Golden Rose Avenue created to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.

Museum and uniform rooms

These rooms house some of the most special objects in Chartwell’s collection, from Churchill’s Nobel Prize in Literature to the regalia of a Knight of the Garter, an honour bestowed on Churchill by Her Majesty The Queen after the Second World War.

Don't miss: Churchill’s Honorary American Citizenship. He was the first person to be given this honour and one of only two to receive it during their lifetime, the other being Mother Theresa. It is one of the few documents in the world that connect both Winston Churchill and President Kennedy.

The ante-room

What was once Lady Churchill's bathroom and dressing room, the ante-room on the first floor has since been converted to display an international collection of porcelain and memorabilia, including some of Churchill's most prestigious medals.

Don’t miss: The Public School Fencing Competition Medal. One of the few items on our collection that relate to Churchill’s schooling and adolescence, Churchill later referenced his victory in this competition as one of his proudest moments.

Churchill's study

The study was Churchill's workshop, which, apart from during the Second World War, he used constantly for 40 years, becoming the heart of Chartwell. He found it easiest to work standing up and would dictate to a secretary sat at the large mahogany writing-desk you’ll find in the middle of the room.

Don't miss: The Union Flag, hoisted in Rome on the night of 5 June 1944, the first British flag to fly over a liberated European Capital.