Chartwell is the family home of Churchill. It is managed by the National Trust. Dogs are allowed in the gardens, which are large enough to make it worth a visit. A very busy place in the summer. We have visited on Boxing Day two years running, so for us that’s a tradition.
A lot was happening here when we first went on New Years Day 2013 – families, dogs, a pony, a kids motorbike, a model air plane and a small pony trap. Although it had been raining it was not too muddy but you’d want the right shoes to walk across the fields. There is a paved path through some areas. In summer dogs can swim south of the bridge and it seems shallow enough for small dogs.
The evidence for dogs being part of human family life goes back to at least the Ancient Egyptians. A description is given in a forthcoming British Museum publican BMSAES, by W. Vivian Davis, of the Tomb of Sataimau. Notable among the pharaonic monuments at Hagr Edfu is a group of three tombs, located at the foot of the main hill which were uncovered by the Egyptian Antiquities Service in 1941. One of the tombs belongs to a high official named Sataimau and is dated by inscription to the reign of Amenhotep I. In the tomb-chapel of Sataimau, in the First chamber, on the North and south walls is the following:
“The focal scene is that on the north wall showing the seated figures of tomb-owner and wife surrounded by their offspring (and a pet dog), before a pile of offerings. “
With the sad news of the passing of Barney, George W Bush’s terrier turned TV star, we look back at other canine inhabitants of the White House since the second world war…
