Our Toddle South

Some reflections on our 50x2 birthday celebration with Anne and Mark Todd in Westerham (weekend 7th and 8th February).

Thorndale reunion with spouses (Andy and Sarah being both Thorndale and spouse).

Westerham

On the Kent-Surrey border.  The village has a mural of a horse 'rampant', which I think is a local message to foreigners from across the county border.

Most famous for being the home of General Wolfe, who stood proudly in Greenwich, looking out over the towers of Cannery Wharf.  He died in Quebec in 1759.  Like Nelson, dying at his finest hour.  Which moves on to Winston,  He is sat recumbent, in contrast to Wolfe's raised sword. Chartwell is down the road, and as the name implies, demands recording accurately

General Wolfe in Westerham

General Wolfe in Greenwich

General wolfe in Westerham

       

Winston Churchill in Westerham

    

minus David and Anne

Chartwell in all it's de-tudorised splendour

Chartwell

We visited Chartwell, though the house itself was not open. This may have been to do with the vast quantities of mud about the place, much of it clinging to our feet.

A big house, but on the scale of National Trust houses, not big.  The excesses of wealth have allowed for visiting on an industrial scale, but not here.

I read of how the house was tossed this way and that by the architects of time.  Originally a large farm house from the 16th century, it was picked up by the Victorians as a play thing and tudorised.  Winston Churchill cleaned it up in the 20's to simplify these excesses, and had larger and plentiful windows installed.  After loosing the general election in 1945, he could not afford to stay on.  A consortium of business men bought the place, and rented it to him, with the condition that it would be passed to the National Trust on his and Clementine's death.  Clementine gave it to the National Trust in 1965, on Winston's death.

Veveri (squirrel) Castle 

Incidentally, we visited the castle Winston and Clementine spent their honeymoon when with Theo in 2013.  here it is