With no place for Churchill in the National governments of the 1930s, he spent much of his leisure time at Chartwell, the house and grounds he bought in 1922 set in the rolling countryside of Kent. When he wasn’t writing (or bricklaying, building tree houses for the children or feeding his menagerie of animals), he spent much of his time painting, often abroad but also at home and at the house of friends in Britain. His studio at Chartwell is today much as it was when he was alive and many of his paintings, created during this time, can be seen on its walls. In late December 1935, on the recommendation of Sir John Lavery and other artist friends, Churchill travelled to Morocco for the first time for a painting holiday. Inspired by the light and colours, and by the desert landscape, he painted some of his most accomplished water colours (and one particularly skilled oil painting) here. He collected a large number of photographs on this and subsequent visits, from which he would paint on his return, and all these remain in the Studio archives at Chartwell.
