By Lyn Funnell
Some National Trust properties and gardens have a Christmas theme and we visited most of them in Kent with daughter Rana, granddaughter Isabella and sometimes Stormy the Dog.
QUEBEC HOUSE 
I liked Quebec House. It’s quite small, but completely as it would have been when General Wolfe lived there.
I wouldn’t travel there specially but I’d go and see it if I was in the area.
It’s not far from Knole and Chartwell.
Quebec House. General Wolfe’s Kent Home at Christmas. – Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine
SCOTNEY CASTLE 
I loved the Christmas display. It was called Cover to Cover.
As there are so many books in the house, each room had a theme of one of the authors.
There were Christmas trees made of piles of books. I’m definitely copying that idea next year!
The gardens are interesting. But I hated the castle at the bottom of the hill. When the house was finished, the castle was deliberately partially destroyed to look like a folly.
What a terrible waste!
Christmas at Scotney Castle, Kent – Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine
CHARTWELL 
Winston Churchill’s house is well worth a visit.
But do phone first as you are given a slot.
The Christmas decorations were magnificent! And the gardens are lovely to walk round.
Churchill did a lot of the garden work himself. He was a really clever man!
Churchill’s Home, Chartwell at Christmas. – Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine
KNOLE 
Oh what an absolutely wonderful building!
My daughter said she’d like to live in Chartwell with all the family living there too.
But give me Knole any day!
You need more than one visit to see everything.
We’ll definitely be back at least once more!
Knole at Christmas – Unknown Kent & Sussex Magazine
