Chartwell house tickets: £24 from 2 Sep, free on 14 Sep

Chartwell house, Winston Churchill’s family home above Westerham, is the second National Trust heavyweight within reach of Sevenoaks after Knole. It is six miles from Sevenoaks station on the Trust’s own reckoning, and unlike Knole it has no free way in: the garden, the house and the car park all sit behind a ticket (National Trust, Chartwell).

Two dates matter this autumn. On 2 September the temporary 5% VAT rate on attractions ends and the till price goes back up to the advertised £24 an adult. Then on Monday 14 September, for Heritage Open Days, admission is free for everyone with no booking needed (National Trust tickets, Chartwell from 2 September).

Every figure below comes from the National Trust’s own Chartwell pages and ticket site, checked on 25 August 2026. Where the Trust does not publish something, we say so rather than guess.

Chartwell key facts

What a Chartwell ticket costs from 2 September

Chartwell sells two tickets. The full one covers the house, the garden and Churchill’s painting studio. The cheaper one drops the house and keeps the garden, the studio and the exhibition room (National Trust, Chartwell).

From 2 September 2026 the prices are:

• House, garden and studio: adult £24.00, child £12.00, family of two adults and up to three children £60.00, one adult and up to three children £36.00
• Garden and studio: adult £17.00, child £8.50, family £42.50, one-adult family £25.50
• Under 5s free, National Trust members free, essential companions free

Gift Aid prices are 10% higher: £26.40 for an adult on the full ticket, £18.70 on the garden ticket. The family ticket is priced so that two adults and two children pay less than they would separately on either ticket.

Until 1 September the price at the till is lower than the advertised figure because of the reduced VAT rate, which the Trust flags on its own page without printing the exact discount (National Trust, Chartwell). The same change lifts prices at Riverhill and Hever on the same day.

Parking is on top of all of this unless you are a member: £6 a car, £10 a minibus or coach (National Trust, Chartwell).

What it means for you: a family of four arriving by car and going inside the house pays £66 from 2 September. Go on Monday 14 September and the same visit costs £6, the car park charge, assuming the Trust applies its usual parking rule on the day; its ticket page says admission is free, and says nothing about parking.

The house: timed tickets, and how to get one

You do not need to pre-book to visit Chartwell. You do need a timed ticket to go inside the house, and the way those are handed out catches people out (National Trust, planning your visit):

• house tickets go on sale at 10:00 on the day at the Visitor Centre, first come first served
• the house opens at 11:00 and the last entry is 15:40, or 15:10 from 26 October to 1 November
• a limited number of afternoon slots can be booked online, released four weeks ahead on a rolling basis, with new dates going live every Thursday
• the visit is self-led, so once you are in you set your own pace

The Trust does not publish how quickly the day’s slots go. If the house is the point of the trip, be at the Visitor Centre for 10:00 or book an afternoon slot online the Thursday before.

The house is on a hillside with steps and narrow corridors, is unsuitable for mobility scooters, and has ramped access to the ground floor only. A volunteer-run mobility taxi runs between the car park and the house, and a small number of wheelchairs can be borrowed (National Trust, Chartwell).

The studio and the garden

The studio at the bottom of the garden holds the largest single collection of Churchill’s paintings anywhere, hung floor to ceiling the way he left them. It is included in both tickets and opens at 11:30, with a 16:00 close on the day we checked (National Trust, Chartwell).

The garden is the reason to come back in a different season. The Trust singles out:

• the Rose Garden, designed by Lady Churchill
• the Walled Garden, whose brick walls Churchill built himself
• the lakes below the house and the view south across the Weald
• the woodland, with a two-storey treehouse for children

Dogs on a short lead are welcome across the garden and can come into the Lady Soames Room of the café, which puts Chartwell ahead of most National Trust houses. Everywhere indoors is assistance dogs only (National Trust, Chartwell). We compare the rules at Knole, Emmetts and the other local estates on the dog friendly Sevenoaks page.

Food, shop and toilets

The café opens at 09:30, before the garden, and serves hot and cold lunches, light snacks and cakes. There is a second-hand bookshop and a plant shop alongside the main shop. Accessible toilets are at the Visitor Centre and beyond the croquet lawn (National Trust, Chartwell).

Westerham itself, back down the hill, has the pubs and cafés if you would rather eat off the estate. Its green carries the Churchill statue that most Chartwell visitors photograph on the way home.

Getting to Chartwell from Sevenoaks

By car it is the A25 west through Sundridge and Brasted to Westerham, then the B2026 up Hosey Hill and Mapleton Road, following the brown National Trust signs. It is about seven miles from the town centre and takes around 20 minutes outside the school run; that timing is ours, not the Trust’s. If you are coming off the M25, the Trust’s route is the A25 into Westerham and then the same turn (National Trust, Chartwell).

Without a car it is harder, but this summer there is a direct bus. From 1 August to 27 September 2026, Go Bus route 1 on Saturdays and route 401 on Sundays run with extra frequency and are extended to Chartwell from Sevenoaks via Westerham (National Trust, Chartwell). Check the Go-Coach timetable for the day before you rely on it, because the extension ends with September.

The other public transport options the Trust lists:

• London bus 246 from Bromley North to Chartwell on Sundays and bank holidays
• the Surrey Connect bookable shuttle from Oxted station on Saturdays, booked between 30 minutes and 7 days ahead on 0300 123 7751
• route 236 between East Grinstead and Oxted, which leaves a walk along a country lane

From Sevenoaks station, six miles away, a taxi from the rank is the simplest answer. Our train times page covers the services into Sevenoaks from London.

Free entry on 14 September, and what else is on this autumn

Heritage Open Days is the one day a year Chartwell drops its admission charge. On Monday 14 September 2026 tickets are free and no pre-booking is required (National Trust tickets). Two special events that day need a free booking: a talk, “Working for the Churchills”, and a guided garden tour about the people behind the garden (National Trust, Chartwell). Knole does the same the following day, Tuesday 15 September, car park included; the details are on our Knole Park page.

Also listed for the autumn on the Trust’s Chartwell page:

• “Leadership and Legacy” highlights tours, Monday to Friday, 16:00 to 17:00, from 7 September to 23 October
• a British Sign Language tour on 11 September, 11:00 to 12:00
• Conservation in Action demonstrations, 5 to 7 October, 11:00 to 14:30
• “We’re Going on a Ghost Hunt”, a family trail through the grounds, 3 October to 1 November

The ghost hunt trail runs across Kent’s October half term, and we track it with the other estate trails on the Halloween events page.

Frequently asked questions

Is Chartwell free with National Trust membership? Yes. Members get into the house, garden and studio free and park free by scanning their card at the car park. You still need a timed ticket for the house, collected at the Visitor Centre on the day (National Trust, Chartwell).

Do you have to book Chartwell in advance? No. General admission is sold on the day. Only the house needs a timed ticket, issued from 10:00 at the Visitor Centre, with a limited number of afternoon slots bookable online (National Trust, planning your visit).

Is Chartwell open in winter? The garden, studio, shop and café stay open through the winter, closing only on 24 and 25 December. The house shuts after 1 November for cleaning and conservation and reopens for the main season at the end of February (National Trust, planning your visit).

Can you take dogs to Chartwell? Yes, on a short lead in the garden and in the Lady Soames Room of the café. Only assistance dogs go into the house, the studio and the shop (National Trust, Chartwell).

How much is parking at Chartwell? £6 per car and £10 per minibus or coach, free for members. There are 15 accessible bays (National Trust, Chartwell).

Is Chartwell suitable for wheelchairs and buggies? Partly. The site is on a hillside with steps, the Trust says it is unsuitable for mobility scooters, and only the ground floor of the house is ramped. A volunteer mobility taxi links the car park and the house, and a limited stock of wheelchairs can be borrowed (National Trust, Chartwell).

Sources

• Opening times, prices, parking, dogs, facilities, access, buses and autumn events: National Trust, Chartwell
• House timed tickets, release rules, main season dates and last entry times: National Trust, planning your visit to Chartwell
• Prices from 2 September and the 14 September free entry: National Trust tickets, Chartwell

All figures checked on 25 August 2026. If you find one that has changed, tell us and we will correct it.