Cherkley Court & Lord Beaverbrook

Cherkley Court was acquired by the MP and newspaper proprietor, William Maxwell Aitken, the 1st Lord Beaverbrook, the year after he entered Parliament in 1910. Following a fire in 1893, the house was substantially rebuilt and restored in the French chateau style as a last gasp monument to the richness of late Victorian architecture. Lord Beaverbrook was much influenced in his purchase by his friends, Mr & Mrs Rudyard Kipling, as well as by the proximity of the house to London, making it within easy reach of Westminster and the City.

The house was used by Lord Beaverbrook, then owner of the Daily and Sunday Express and the Evening Standard, to entertain among others: Bonar Law, Asquith, Rudyard Kipling, Duff Cooper, Harold Macmillan and Winston Churchill. During World War II the house was an important centre for Lord Beaverbrook's activities as Minister for Aircraft Production and a key member of Churchill's War Cabinet.

Following the death of the Dowager Lady Beaverbrook in 1994, the Beaverbrook Foundation has undertaken an extensive seven year renovation programme of the house and estate.