Visiting Chartwell from London by public transportion?
 

Is this excursion feasible? I am a big Churchill fan and would really feel like I missed something if I spent a full week in London and didn't make it to Chartwell. What would be the logistics of trying to do this through public transport? We are staying in Central London, near the St. James Park underground station.

For what it's worth, I have looked at the web site and it's not entirely clear to me whether or not any of those public transport options really get you to Chartwell, or just in that general vicinity. I want to hear from someone who has actually attempted this, if at all possible.

The Chartwell website is abundantly clear. There are buses - but only on Sundays - between Chartwell and Bromley North, Bromley South, Sevenoaks, Oxted, Edenbridge Town and Tunbridge Wells stations. All with frequent connections to London stations. From memory, the buses stop at the entrance to the estate.

Google the bus route numbers (or names) given on the site for timetables, or go to www.transportdirect.info. Note that they don't all run all year.

Possibly better than the buses (I would rather visit Chartwell on a weekday because it is less crowded) would be:

1) Take the train to Edenbridge or Oxted and a taxi from there. That way you are not limited to Sundays.

OR 2) my real favorite would be to take the train to Gatwick, pick up a rental car and tour by road. Renting a car for the day you would give you time to easily visit Chartwell, Hever and Penshurst (or Chartwell and Knole). These properties are all near each other and easy to do in a single day by car - but REALLY hard to do by public transport

Then back to LGW, drop the car and train back into London

Oh to clarify -- by &quot;<i>. . . . REALLY hard to do by public transport</i>&quot; I meant it is hard to hit more than one property. You can get to any ONE by public transport as a day trip. But rural bus schedules just don't make for efficient touring.

I believe there are organized tourist day trips that go to Chartwell. You might want to ask at your hotel.

Janis: Thanks. If I wasn't renting a car for the Scotland leg of our trip, I would be tempted to do just that. But, right or wrong, I really only want to do one car rental on the trip. Taking the train to one of those two stations sounds like the way to go. Train tickets appear to be pretty cheap--I'm guessing that getting a taxi either at the station or for the return from Chartwell, should not be a problem.