The garden at Chartwell

View from within walled garden at Chartwell looking towards the house — Summer blooms in the walled garden at Chartwell. | © Chris Lane

Born from the keen amateur, creative gardening minds of Sir Winston and Lady Churchill, the garden at Chartwell is as varied as it is beautiful all year round. History and nature merge seamlessly across the estate, from Clementine's Rose Garden to the walls of the Kitchen Garden that Winston helped to build.

Summer in the garden at Chartwell

Summer heralds the arrival of roses at Chartwell; a garden that is graced by not one, but two rose gardens. Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden blooms in white and pastel pink while warmer hues shine in The Golden Rose Avenue within the Walled Garden.

A variety of apples hang temptingly from the trees in the orchard. We kindly ask that you do not pick our apples as they will soon be harvested for juicing and bottling, ready for sale in our shop later in the year.

In the Walled Garden, the cut flower beds are brimming with dahlias of all shapes and sizes. The Churchill’s Head Gardeners grew dahlias here as early as the 1930s, and it is a tradition we maintain. Look out for them in floral arrangements displayed in the house, our visitor centre and café.

Alongside the path overlooking the Orchard, the Butterfly Border is filled with plants for pollinators. It is sure to be bustling with butterflies in summertime, how many can you count?

Water features

As you enter Chartwell, heading up from the northern end of the estate along the paved pathways, the views soon open up to the wide lawns and lakes.

Swimming pool

The first feature you’ll see is the swimming pool, once a favourite of the Churchill family and now a favourite of the resident black swans and visiting geese. One of the most captivating areas here is the Gavin Jones Cascade which trickles steadily down into the swimming pool. Please be aware that is not suitable for swimming as it is now managed for the wildlife.

The Gavin Jones Cascade

The Gavin Jones Cascade and surrounding garden is made up of several different areas, each with its own unique character and fascinating history. Originally displayed as part of the 1948 Chelsea Flower Show where Clementine Churchill first saw it, she liked it so much that the designer Gavin Jones gave it to her as a gift.

Golden Orfe Pond

Just before you reach Lady Churchill’s Rose Garden, you’ll come to a series of ponds. There are three interlinked ponds here that form the upper part of the Gavin Jones Cascade. The lower of the three ponds is called the Golden Orfe Pond and is filled with descendants of the exotic fish that Churchill himself bought from Harrods after seeing them in the 1930s.

Lady Churchill's Rose Garden

Sitting behind the wall near the Golden Orfe Pond, you’ll find the Rose Garden, designed by Clementine herself. The Garden Team have planted this area with Hybrid Tea roses of the style that was used by Lady Churchill. Varieties to look out for include Rosa ‘Ice Cream’, Rosa ‘Lovely Lady’ and Rosa ‘Savoy Hotel’.

The centrepiece of the garden is formed by four standard wisteria trees that bloom purple in the spring. Although these are the common Wisteria sinensis variety, what makes them special is they’ve been planted upright as a ‘standard’ rather than more recognisable and traditional wall-trained displays.

Enjoy this sun trap surrounded by intense colours and fragrances in what is perhaps the most quintessentially English feature of the garden at Chartwell.

Terrace lawn

With panoramic vistas over the Chartwell estate and Weald of Kent, the terrace is the perfect place to enjoy the view, no matter the season.

At the north end of the terrace lawn, is the distinctive Marlborough Pavilion, named for the man who inspired its decoration and Churchill’s ancestor, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.

Close up of white roses from Lady Churchill's Rose Garden with the house at Chartwell in the background — A view from Lady Churchill's Rose Garden | © Chris Lane

The orchards

A wide variety of apple trees grow in the orchard, many of which are the same varieties that the Churchills would have also grown whilst living here at Chartwell. There's a selection of culinary, dessert, and crab apples including Bramley's Seedling, Kerry Pippin, John Downie, Newton Wonder, and Lord Derby. We also planted a 'Winston' apple tree in the main orchard, and we can’t wait for it to really get growing!

The orchards were important to Churchill, and they’re important to us, too. For most of the year, we manage the grass throughout the orchard just as the Churchills did, as a meadow. This allows a variety of wildflower species to flourish. This in turn ensures that we offer a consistently rich habitat for local wildlife.

After the September harvest, you can buy delicious Chartwell apple juice in the shop.

The Walled Garden

From fruit and vegetables, beautiful cut-flower beds to the Golden Rose Avenue – and not forgetting the chickens – the Walled Garden has a bit of everything. The present Walled Garden dates from the mid-1920s when the surrounding brick wall was built. A plaque states, 'The greater part of this wall was built between the years 1925 & 1932 by Winston with his own hands.'

Whilst you're exploring the Walled Garden, pop into the Marycot, a little brick house that Winston Churchill built himself for his daughter Mary.

The Golden Rose Avenue

A walk to the farthest reaches of the garden is well worth it for the Golden Rose Avenue that awaits you. The avenue was a gift to Winston and Clementine from their children and grandchildren on the occasion of their 50^th Wedding Anniversary in 1958. This area is full of colour, sounds and fragrance, with over 200 golden roses all underplanted with catmint (Nepeta) and lambs-ears (Stachys) and garden birds making the beech hedges their home. See if you can spot the inscription on the plinth reading 'Here lies the Bali Dove', Clementine’s beloved pet dove that she brought to Chartwell from Bali in 1936.

Wildlife to spot in the garden at Chartwell

Black swans

Black swans, originally native to Australia, were first kept at Chartwell in the 1920s after they were gifted to Sir Winston. Please help us take care of the swans by giving them some distance and not feeding them. Wildfowl are sensitive and may peck if they feel uncomfortable.

Chickens

In the Walled Garden is ‘Chickenham Palace’, home to a variety of bantam chickens, each with their unique colouring and feathering. Which one will be your favourite?

Butterflies

Sir Winston had a true passion for nature and spent time attempting to reintroduce lost butterflies. The Garden Team share this passion for butterflies and have an entire border dedicated to plants that are perfect for these winged insects. This border can be found sandwiched between the croquet lawn, the orchard, and the Butterfly House.

Bees

Keeping Churchill’s beekeeping tradition alive, there are six beehives in the private orchard tended to by trained volunteers. There are also some feral bee colonies living out in the woodland. Surplus honey is harvested by volunteers at the end of August and has won several awards from the British Beekeepers Association.