As I Mentioned, I Will Only Be Making One Post Today,

as it is Diana's week off, 

and as usual I took way too many photographs! so glad rags on and we were out,

to the corner to meet with Steve and Kai,

and were soon driving through the countryside,

passing quaint English villages,

the roads were,

very narrow, 

meeting another car here was a tad difficult to say the least!

we emerged in Westerham,

passing the café Diana and myself had visited a few times before,

back onto country roads,

and ended up here Chartwell, the home of the great Sir Winston Churchill, 

down into the car park,

after parking we made our way to the entrance and café,

a quick pose,

looking at the sky we could not have chosen a better day,

time for coffee and cakes!

we started our walk to the house,

a few poses on the way,

a cut out sign of a black swan asking you not to feed them,

and there they were feeding on the grass,

we passed a huge giant Chilean rhubarb plant, (Gunnera manicata),

and looked into the distance at one of the many lakes and ponds here,

we entered the house,

in each room a guide gave a talk about the room,

everything was as it was back in the time of residence,

at the rear of the first room there was a terrace, so a pose it was,

a panorama from the terrace,

and another pose,

what a view,

nearby a huge tree dominated the lawn to the rear,

a few more poses on the terrace,

underneath the wisteria,

back in the house,

we explored each room,

everywhere,

writing desks,

here in one of the libraries a relief map of one of the Mulberry harbours, 

a television of the time,

showing one of the films made about the great man,

telephone and typewriter of the period,

upstairs,

and time for one of me!

another writing table and someone I know in the mirror,

his bed,

we stopped to look at his medal collection,

the legend about them,

housed in two cabinets,

amazing!

memorabilia everywhere,

some from people that I would not have expected,

I took a few close-ups of the bowls,

at one end,

the head of a dragon,

at the other a warrior, very Alexander Nevsky, (as it happens one of my favourite films by Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein),

also here a gift from Thailand,

as it happens cigar boxes featured heavily in gifts,

but there were other unique items given,

like this jewelled dagger,

in one room a display of uniforms,

with notes accompanying each one,

the lighting here muted to stop the uniforms fading,

time for a rest,

then onwards, 

Sir Winston did have a passion for fish,

not so much indoors, but out of doors in the many pools that can be found in the 90 acres of the grounds, also in later life a passion for painting,

a table of memorabilia,

Steve mentioned when I first moved into where we now live, this was almost a double of the bathroom I had at the time, back in the early 1980s,

downstairs,

a couple of poses,

looking over the grounds,

a painting by Sir Winston of a few of his tipples, (and mine!),

what a magnificent dining room.

everything just perfect,

a record player of the time,

that played at 78RPM.

into the kitchen,

now that is what you call a oven!

not missing the pots and pans,

into a room of 50 items to remember him by,

the family tree,

and so many quotes, 

still remembered to this day,

and all so true, 

a humbling experience to fine so much of his history in one room,

we exited the house by the raised lawn,

a panorama of it,

naturally the girls were taking photographs and Kai a video,

a walk to the wall,

and a pose, from Diana,

myself,

and Steve,

OK one more!

Steve and Kai took a break whilst I continued taking a few more photographs,

all set,

and we were off looking back at the house,

when we were joined,

by the local cat, 

we found our way into the orchard,

the sign says it all,

I commented to Steve, 

how poor the apple crop appeared to be this year, the lack of apples here mirroring the lack of apples on the trees where Duncan lives in the nursing home,

directions on the door,

so right it is then,

Steve led the way,

past these blooms that were literally alive with bees,

difficult to see, but there were literally hundreds of bees on each of these trees in flower

a last look at the apples, or so I thought,

as we went into the walled garden,

flowers of all descriptions everywhere,

beds along each wall,

I zoomed into the distance, a neighbour over looks the garden,

in the centre beds a glorious display of dahlias,

and so many other flowers and plants,

like these I do not know what they are,

but they had these huge flowers hanging from them,

the gladioli needing no introduction,

a pose from Diana,

as we neared one of the pumpkin patches,

the house,

with a beehive in the garden,

the sunflowers here were huge,

looking carefully 2 bee hives,

giant thistles seem to be in flower later here than in Beckenham,

the flowers were huge,

but nowhere near as tall as the ones near us,

the two bee hives clearly seen now,

into the soft fruit garden,

raspberry's,

and blackberries,

and another pumpkin patch, 

Halloween just around the corner now,

we passed a small garden house,

as we neared more sunflowers,

time for a few poses,

there seemed to be 2 different types of flower here, lots of seeds with small petals,

and fewer seeds with big petals,

and they were tall,

one of the bee hives,

Diana went to look at the chickens,

before going back to the centre beds,

of dahlias,

we made our way to the walled gardens gate,

and of course,

time for a pose from myself, 

before Diana was asked if she could take a visitors photograph with his telephone,

meanwhile Steve and Kai were taking photographs of the trees that the bees liked so much,

this tree laden with fruit,

but all so small, I will stop here as if there are too many photographs on one post it starts to get unmanageable, if you would like to see the rest of our day, please press the 'Older Posts' button at the bottom right of the page.