History of the gardens
The rose garden was Clementine's pride and joy and became the part of the garden she loved the most. Winston had proposed to Clementine in the rose garden at Blenheim Palace and the rose garden here at Chartwell undoubtedly bought back fond memories for her.
The rose garden layout was designed by Philip Tilden, the Churchill’s architect for the mansion. Clementine's close friend and cousin Venetia Montagu, helped select the roses and created the traditional, formal English rose garden you can still see today.
During the Second World War the area went in to decline but was later restored and the garden brought back to life.
German prisoners of war undertook some of the work and helped re-face the walls in the rose garden. You can see a signed stone from one of the prisoners as proof on the northern wall.
One of the POWs, Albert Karwinsky, was Polish by extraction. He opted not to be repatriated to Germany with his colleagues and stayed on to work at Chartwell for many more years. Just a few years ago another signed stone was discovered outside the Marycot, commemorating his time at Chartwell.