Monday was my day. We went to the train station and booked some expensive tickets to Sheffield. Have I mentioned that traveling within England is supposedly some of the most expensive traveling in the world? But it was more than worth it and I'd shell out the money again in a heartbeat if it meant I could go to Chatsworth again. Before I begin this post, let me say that though this post is long and full of pictures, it is because this is the one place I desperately want to go back to. I wasn't ready to leave when they closed and I speak the truth when I say I'd rather live at Chatsworth than Windsor.
Breakfast at the train station.
A lot of Chatsworth was being renovated and so the outside was covered in scaffolding and cloth. This is the entrance.
The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire still live at Chatsworth.
This stone fountain was built into the wall as a beautiful way to physically support the house.
There are no details undone. The entire house is beautiful.
The courtyard within the house.
The chapel was on the inside of the home and had no windows. It was small and dark but very beautiful. Since we were there while they were having a display of clothing worn by those who have lived at Chatworth through the centuries, they had these wedding dresses on display. Some of them were even married at Chatsworth.
An old baby pram.
I have always been curious of a scene in "Emma" where Mrs. Weston is putting flowers in one of these beautiful porcelain vases. I asked a worker at Chatsworth what they were all about and he told us about how the wealthy would put these all over their homes and fill them with flowers -- usually tulips. Tulips were worth more than gold once upon a time, so to fill your home with flowers meant that you were incredibly wealthy. The pieces come apart and you can stack as many as you wish.
The house stores several pieces of artwork by famous painters (including DaVinci!). They regularly cycle them in and out of storage to keep them preserved.
I might be wrong, but I think this was the room Queen Victoria stayed in when she came to visit.
The library. You weren't allowed to go in and there was a worker standing at the entrance to make sure no one went past the barrier. When I first looked in I gasped and she burst out laughing. I'm not kidding, I want to move there y'all.
The statue room that was made famous by the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. Apparently the Duke and Duchess didn't think much about it until the movie came out, but then after seeing how beautiful the statues were through the film, they decided they should put more effort into maintaining the statues. My only let down of the day was that my favorite statue wasn't there:
But you could buy it in the gift shop for a handful of pounds.
Ben can tell you that I would have bought the whole gift shop if I could have. There were so many cool things I would have loved. This was the last picture I got before my camera died. There was a book that gave knitting guides to recreate dozens of scenes from Pride and Prejudice. I was laughing my head off flipping through the pages. Priceless.
The "stables." I put that in quotations because, apparently, their horses live much fancier lives than we do. They turned the stables into a few different restaurants, one of which we had afternoon tea in.
**Cool fact. After re-watching the 5 hour Pride and Predjucie with Collin Firth, I can say that the stables are the only genuine part of Chatworth that is in the movie. They use the outside front of Chatworth to portray Pemberley, but none of the inside is used. The stables, on the other hand, are in the movie.
My Mother's Day present and one of the top highlights of the trip.
And yes, we did skip lunch so that we could pig out and eat it all.
One of the best parts about tea was the couple that sat behind me. They were there celebrating the woman's 82nd birthday. The husband was struggling with his digital camera and so Ben went over to help. Over and over again the husband would say, "Smile for the camera, dear," and she would hold up her glass and say, "Cheers!" Then he would say, "Oh dear, I didn't get it." This would happen so many times in a row that Ben and I just about died. They were the cutest couple and we had a nice conversation with them before we left.
After we were done with tea we went exploring in the gardens. There are 1,000 acres of garden, and we only had so much time before they sadly closed at 5:30. But we literally explored until 5:30 on the dot so that we could see as much as possible.
They even have their own coal mine.
This picture just assures me for the millionth time over that Thad and Ben are clones.
The very left is of this picture (the part you can't see at this angle) is where you get your famous view of Chatsworth from the front. From this angle you cans see just how deep it is. It's HUGE!
This fountain was built in the 1700's and is gravity fed. The water comes from lakes at higher elevations. Each set of steps is completely different from the last set so that as you walk along the fountain it sounds different every so many feet.
One of my favorite little details about England is that they have these tiny little white flowers growing in the grass everywhere.
Our first ever garden maze.
A wild pheasant let Ben get really close to take a picture. How English is that?!
Even the area by the outdoor bathrooms was fancy. :)
We virtually had the house and grounds to ourselves while we were there. Plus, this was the only day it was actually rainy. It was actually a lot of fun exploring the gardens in the rain (my favorite weather). This was the perfect day. I wish I could have spent two days there, actually. So if you ever go to England, and if you want to see the incredibly beautiful countryside of Derbyshire, I highly recommend Chatsworth. You won't regret a single penny you spend getting there.
