🧳My Holiday to Kent, England July ’22

Hello friends, today I am sharing with you what I got up to on my relaxing week-long holiday to one of my favourite places, nestled in the beautiful countryside of Kent: one of the home counties that lies in the South East of England. If you are a regular visitor here, you may recall I have enjoyed many a weekend in Kent, and this was my second time spending a whole week there.

‘The Manor’

For this week, and the previous weekends, I stayed at a lovely manor house owned by a Christian holiday company, that has breath-taking views of the South Downs, a south facing terrace with a pool, and 150 acres of grounds. As well as that I was provided each day with three meals; an evening talk and worship time; and a bountiful amount of entertainments put on by our leader, which included a quiz, treasure hunt, talent show, bonfire, an afternoon tea party, and games evenings.

With all that and the glorious weather we were treated to, I am sure you can’t blame me for spending nearly all of my time at ‘the manor’, even though many day trips were also organised. When not engaged in one of the many lovely activities listed above, you could find me reading on the terrace, basking in the pool, or laughing with friends. This was a lovely reunion for me with several friends I have made on previous holidays and weekends, as well as making some lovely new friends too.

Chartwell House

My only day trip out, with a small group of friends, was to the beautiful family home and exquisite gardens of the late, great prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, which is now owned and maintained by the National Trust. Winston and his wife Clementine bought the house in 1922 and it would be their home for the next forty years. Here Churchill could escape being an important politician and statesman, and enjoy being a husband, father, writer, painter and garden planner.

The rooms in the house remain much as they were when he lived there, with pictures, books and personal mementoes. As well as the hillside gardens and expansive grounds, which include lakes, ponds, a walled kitchen garden, a swimming pool, copious amounts of roses, and his artist’s studio. I loved how intimate, comfy and lived-in this grand house felt like compared to so many others that are more cold and austere.

There is also two lovely tea rooms – we indulged in tea and cake at the one located in an old cottage, above the gardens – and a large, well stocked gift shop, where I picked up a keyring for my father and for me, a card of ‘Jock’: the most recent marmalade cat that the family asked must always be in ‘comfortable residence’ at the house in memory of Winston’s love of animals.

Come back soon to hear about what I got up to on my holiday to Normandy, France next.

Have you ever been to Kent? Have you ever visited Chartwell House? Please let me know in the comments below. I love to chat!

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