Did you know that Winston Churchill also had a dream?
Winston Churchill had a dream. It’s not widely known but he wrote it down. It’s set in a cottage in the grounds of his home, Chartwell. Let’s go there now. We are going to dig up some secrets of his and some of my own.
We’ll start our tour in the walled garden. Churchill built some of these walls himself. Some people don’t think much of these gardens. They say they are “not a patch on those of other stately homes” (Boris Johnson, The Churchill Factor). But I like this little patch. So me and my Mum scattered my Dad’s ashes here. We got him a memorial bench. Yes, look, there, blue, a little blue bench. This is the perfect place, don’t you think?
Yes perfect. It’s odd I don’t come here very often, I probably don’t know it much better than you. I don’t live nearby. And it’s odd to choose somewhere to remember my Dad where we have to pay to get in. Although we paid for the bench, there is no plaque on it that says his name.
Before I try to explain why there isn’t a plaque, come for a walk with me through the garden. We’ll go through an arch in the brick wall. We’ll go down the steps into a cottage. We’re standing in this cottage now. It seems peaceful, it’s next to the lake. This is the place Churchill came to paint. There are canvasses all over the walls. And this is the setting for an extraordinary piece…
