Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (R) welcomes President Xi Jinping to his official residence at Chequers, England, October 22, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

Country house to add English tradition to Xi, Cameron meeting

President Xi Jinping next week will become the latest state leader to be welcomed to Chequers, a tranquil country house in Britain that has hosted foreign dignitaries since becoming an official retreat for prime ministers in 1921, Chinese news website the paper.cn reported.

The neo-Gothic-style estate 50 km northwest of London in Buckinghamshire is believed to be a light-hearted supplement to the buttoned-up Downing Street meeting between British PM David Cameron and Xi, who will start his four-day visit on Oct 19 with wife Peng Liyuan.

Like its US counterpart Camp David, Chequers witnessed historic moments with the people who stayed there. Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill was informed of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while dinning at the mansion with American ambassador John Winant and special envoy Averell Harriman. [Full story]