Editing Chartwell (section)

=== Interior ===
The interior has been remodelled since the National Trust took over the property in 1966, to accommodate visitors and to enable the display of a large number of Churchillian artefacts. In particular, some guest bedrooms have been amalgamated, to allow the construction of the Museum room and the Uniform room.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=60}} Nevertheless, the majority of the principal rooms have been reconstructed and furnished as they were in the 1920s–1930s{{sfn|Buczacki|2007|p=279}} and are open to the public, with the current exception of Churchill's own bedroom.<ref name="nationaltrust1">{{cite web|url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chartwell/features/new-room-openings-coming-soon-at-chartwell|title=New room openings coming soon at Chartwell|author=<!--Not stated-->|publisher=The National Trust|access-date=5 August 2017}}</ref>

==== Entrance hall and inner hall, library and drawing room ====
Designed by Tilden, replacing a wood-panelled earlier hall, the halls lead onto the library, the drawing room and Lady Churchill's sitting room.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|pp=46–47}}
The library contains some major pieces of Churchilliana, including the 1942 [[siren suit]] portrait by [[Frank O. Salisbury]]{{efn|A. L. Rowse described the picture in a record of his visit in 1955. Churchill had invited Rowse to comment on the [[Tudor era|Tudor]] sections of his ''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]'' and Rowse subsequently described the visit in a memoir.<ref name="auto" />}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1102450|title=Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, DL, OM, CH, PC, MP (1874–1965) -Item 1102450|author=National Trust Collections|publisher=The National Trust|website=www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk|access-date=26 August 2019}}</ref> and a wall-mounted model of [[Arromanches-les-Bains|Port Arromanches]], depicting the [[Normandy landing]] site with its [[Mulberry harbour]] on D-Day + 109, the 23rd of September 1944.{{sfn|Fedden|1974|pp=29–30}} The drawing room was used mainly for receiving guests, and for playing bezique. It contains one of the house's most important paintings,{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=25}} a view of [[Charing Cross Bridge (Monet series)|Charing Cross Bridge]] by [[Claude Monet]].{{efn|Robin Fedden's 1968 guide describes this as a view of [[London Bridge]] and David Lough's study of Churchill's finances, ''No More Champagne: Churchill and His Money'', titles it ''Ponte de Londres''.{{sfn|Lough|2015|p=406}} The National Trust Collection records it as Pont de Londres (Charing Cross Bridge).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1102455|title=Pont de Londres (Charing Cross Bridge, London) 1102455|author=National Trust Collections |publisher=The National Trust|website=www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk|access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref> The painting was a gift from [[Emery Reves]], Churchill's American publisher.{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=25}}}}{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=52}} This unfinished work, undertaken by Monet from his balcony at the [[Savoy Hotel]], subsequently formed a significant element in the negotiations between the executors of Churchill's estate and the [[National Land Fund]] over the gifting of many of Chartwell's contents to the National Trust in lieu of [[death duties]].{{sfn|Lough|2015|p=406}}

==== Dining room ====
{{quote box|width=25em|bgcolor=#c6dbf7|align=right|quote="It should be comfortable, and give support to the body; it should certainly have arms, which are an enormous comfort. It should be compact. One does not want the Dining Room chair spreading itself, or its legs, or its arms, as if it were a plant&nbsp;... This enables the chairs to be put close together, which is often more sociable, while at the same time, the arms prevent undue crowding and elbowing"|source=—Churchill's note on the requirements of a dining chair.{{sfn|Soames|1998|p=259}}}}
The bottom section of Tilden's "promontory" extension, the dining room contains the original suite of the table and dining chairs designed by [[Heal's]] to Churchill's exacting requirements – (see box).{{sfn|Soames|1998|p=259}} An early study for a planned picture by [[William Nicholson (artist)|William Nicholson]] entitled ''Breakfast at Chartwell'' hangs in the room. Nicholson, a frequent visitor to Chartwell who gave Churchill painting lessons, drew the study for a finished picture which was intended as a present for Churchill's silver wedding anniversary in 1933 but, disliking the final version, Nicholson destroyed it.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1102453|title=Study for Breakfast at Chartwell II, Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965) and Clementine Ogilvy Hozier, Lady Churchill (1885–1977) in the Dining Room at Chartwell with their Cat 1102453 |author=National Trust Collections|publisher=The National Trust|access-date=5 August 2017}}</ref> The picture depicts the Churchills breakfasting together, which in fact they rarely did,{{efn|Adrian Tinniswood's book ''The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House Between The Wars'', contains a photograph depicting such a breakfast in 1927.{{sfn|Tinniswood|2016|p=352}}}} and Churchill's marmalade cat, Tango.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|pp=67–68}} The tradition of keeping a marmalade cat at Chartwell, which Churchill began and followed throughout his ownership, is maintained by the National Trust in accordance with Churchill's wishes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-kent-26532986/chartwell-kitten-jock-vi-upholds-winston-churchill-s-wish|title=Chartwell kitten Jock VI upholds Winston Churchill's wish|last=Reidy|first=Chrissie| date=11 March 2014|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=5 August 2017}}</ref> In a letter to Randolph written in May 1942, Churchill wrote of a brief visit to Chartwell the previous week, "the goose and the black swan have both fallen victim to the fox. The Yellow Cat however made me sensible of his continuing friendship, although I had not been there for eight months".{{sfn|Gilbert|1986|p=99}}

Churchill depicted the dining room in one of his own pictures, ''Tea at Chartwell: 29 August 1927''. The scene shows Churchill in one of his dining chairs with his family and guests: Thérèse Sickert, and her husband, [[Walter Richard Sickert]], Churchill's friend and artistic tutor; [[Edward Marsh (polymath)|Edward Marsh]], Churchill's secretary; his friends [[Diana Mitford]] and [[Frederick Lindemann]]; and Clementine, Randolph and [[Diana Churchill]].{{sfn|Coombs|1967|p=103}} Above the dining room is the drawing room and, above that, Lady Churchill's bedroom,{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=47}} described by Churchill as "a magnificent aerial bower".{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=55}}

==== Study ====
Churchill's study, on the first floor, was his "workshop for over 40 years"{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=63}} and "the heart of Chartwell".{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=40}} In the 1920s, as [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], he planned his budgets in the room; in the 1930s, in isolation, he composed his speeches that warned against the rise of [[Hitler]] and [[Winston Churchill as a writer|dictated the books and articles]] that paid the bills; in 1945, defeated, he retreated here to write his histories; and here, in final retirement, he passed much of his old age.{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=40}} Throughout the 1930s, the study was his base for the writing of many of his most successful books. His biography of his ancestor [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Marlborough]] and his ''[[The World Crisis]]'' were written there, and ''[[A History of the English-Speaking Peoples]]'' was begun and concluded there, although interrupted by the Second World War.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=63}} He also wrote many of his pre-war speeches in the study, although the house was less used during the war itself. Tilden exposed the early roof beams by removing the late-Victorian ceiling and inserting a Tudor doorcase.{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=41}} From the beams hang three banners, Churchill's [[Heraldic flag|standards]] as [[Order of the Garter|Knight of the Garter]] and [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]] and the [[Union Flag]] raised over [[Rome]] on the night of 5 June 1944, the first British flag to fly over a liberated capital.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=65}} The latter was a gift from [[Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis|Lord Alexander of Tunis]].{{sfn|Fedden|1974|p=44}} The study also contains portraits of Churchill's parents, [[Lord Randolph Churchill]] and [[Lady Randolph Churchill]], the latter by [[John Singer Sargent]].{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=64}} The floor is covered with a [[Greater Khorasan|Khorassan]] carpet, a 69th birthday gift to Churchill from the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]] at the [[Teheran Conference]] in 1943.{{sfn|Garnett|2008|p=66}}
[[File:Chartwell - geograph.org.uk - 1275993.jpg|thumb|right|The garden front – "the grouping that mattered"]]
Beyond the study are Churchill's bedroom and his en suite bathroom, with sunken bath. At the time of the house's opening to the public in 1966, these rooms were not made accessible, at the request of Churchill's family but, shortly before her death in 2014, Churchill's daughter Mary gave permission for their opening, and the Trust plans to make them accessible by 2020.{{update-inline|date=February 2025}}<ref name="nationaltrust1" />