June 29 - Chartwell House and Hever Castle, Kent, England

First stop today is Chartwell House, home of Winston Churchill.  Much of the home has been preserved with memorabilia from the Churchill family and from Churchill’s public life.

Croquet Court

Much of the original furnishings remain...and even the formal rooms looked pretty cozy.

There were also many paintings on the wall the Churchill painted.  He seemed to be prolific and quite competent as a painter.

The grounds and gardens weren’t extensive but what there was was very pretty.

Plus some of the garden seemed to grow right into the building.

After lunch at Chartwell we drove a short distance to Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII.   They actually allowed us to take pictures inside, which was quite a welcome surprise.  Some of the furnishings were from periods of use well after Anne's time.

Prayer Book belonging to Anne Boleyn

Tapestry

The castle still retains its moat.

After touring the castle we wandered through the lovely gardens

and out to the Italian Gardens

that ended with step down to a lake.

We didn’t go through the yew maze but did spend some time at the water maze where you walk on the large stone walkways.  Some of the stones are not stone and they give, resulting in water sprays.  One can get quite wet working your way through the maze.

Before heading out again we stopped for a quick view of the little church directly across the road from the castle.

Paul did much better today driving on the left.  Only bounced off of a curb once and Mary didn’t have nearly as many coronaries. 

Parking is hard as the hotel has only two slots for a couple dozen or more rooms.  But we eventually found a very long (triple car length?) spot on the street so Paul was able to park easily. 

For dinner it was back to The Pantiles.  However, it looks like they don’t have nearly as much open in the evenings, although we think we were just too early.  We suspect things open up later in the evening around 8:00.  We tried an Italian restaurant that was just OK, then back to the hotel and to bed.  We are both still a bit jet-lagged.

Comments on the roads in England:

The English put a line down the middle of a lane and a half, for two way traffic.  On the roads that are even narrower, not wide enough for a line down the middle, it is still two-way traffic.  Then on nice stretches that are wide enough for two-way traffic, cars are parked on one or both sides, making it two-way traffic on a one lane road!  And then there are the highway like divided roads, two lanes in each direction.  Good speed limit, except there are round-a-bouts every couple of miles to interrupt the drive – probably better than signals, though.