Westerham to Chartwell using the Greensand Way  | - Click on the image above to view gallery
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 Strange sense of humour in Westerham Our walk today started in Westerham; the only trouble with this is that it’s about an hour’s drive from home in Sandwich. We found the car park with no problem but soon discovered the town has no public toilets! It does have numerous tea shops however so we started the day in one of those looking out at the statue of Sir Winston Churchill. Leaving Westerham I have to admit the many signs on a marker post had us confused quite which footpath we should be following for a while but eventually we got it right and found the right one through Tower Wood and Hosey Common. Before long it was time to look for a likely spot to stop for lunch, and this coincided with passing the car park of Chartwell, Sir Winston Churchill’s much-loved home. We spotted a picnic bench and a quick decision was made to stop there. Following lunch we enjoyed a walk around the gardens at Chartwell, somewhere I had never been before. Sir Winston once said “A day away from Chartwell is a day wasted”. Visit here and you can see why he loved it so much. From the house there is a fantastic view across the Weald of Kent and the gardens where he spent a lot of his time are being restored to reflect more closely the life and times of Sir Winston Churchill and his family. The kitchen garden especially has undergone a lot of restoration and now supplies the tea room at the property with home-grown produce. One part of the garden that is really interesting is the Golden Rose Avenue, which runs through the centre of the Kitchen Garden. It was created in 1958 by Sir Winston and Lady Churchill’s children to celebrate their parents’ golden wedding anniversary.  Chartwell  Churchill's Favourite seat by the pond  14th century wooden spiral staircase in StMary's Church
We sadly didn’t have time today to wait for one of the timed tickets that allow you into the main house. Maybe we’ll have to do that on another visit. Leaving Chartwell we followed the Greensand Way once more through woodland. We met quite a few other people out enjoying the same walk too. It’s always good to see people out and about and one warned us they had seen a snake on a footpath but weren’t sure what it was. When we found it we discovered it was an Adder, which was doing what Adders prefer to do and slinking off quietly. I have to admit I’ve never seen an Adder in dense woodland like that before; I always think it’s a bit of a treat when I do see these secretive creatures and it was certainly not what I expected to see today.
A large section of this walk went through woodland and was really interesting. A large part of these woods would have sustained widespread damage during the great storm of 1987. I thought to myself this would definitely be a place to return to during the autumn months for some good autumnal colour. The walk was approximately 6 miles; we always enjoy exploring areas new to us and this walk was definitely one of those occasions.
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Another lovely set of pictures from Chartwell. It looked a very warm day.
Regards,
Dave