Last Tuesday you could read a quote from the one and only Mr. Darcy. In that post I already told you about our visits to Lyme Park and Chatsworth House in the Peak District. Well, today I will do that more elaborate and add heaps of photos of these estates as both are so delightful to visit! When we decided on going to the Peak District last year, I made sure I added some Pride and Prejudice locations as my eldest daughter and I are a big P&P-fan (especially of the BBC-adaption!!). As my two other children and my husband are less interested in visiting houses or estates, I decided to plan these visits on the two days when my husband, son and youngest daughter would be attending a football match… everybody happy!

Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House is a big estate which is very beautifully situated. My husband dropped my eldest daughter and myself off in Edensor, a tiny village within walking distance of Chatsworth. We had a short stroll in this picturesque village but quickly made our way towards Chatsworth.

Chatsworth is home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family.

After buying our ticket we made our way through the big house, exploring more than 30 rooms : the Painted Hall, the State Rooms, various bedrooms, the library, the dining room, the sculpture gallery,… It was crowded in the house, but we took our time and patiently strolled from room to room, chosing our favorite chamber… for me that definitely was the library!! Or no… the dining room… or perhaps that fab bedroom?

Before visiting the gardens, we had afternoon tea at the Cavendish Restaurant. This isn’t very cheap, but I think it’s definitely worth the money. We first enjoyed our glass of rosé before indulging ourselves with sandwiches, scones and patisserie… oh… and tea of course!

After our afternoon tea, we spent several hours in the garden, which really is immensly big and definitely a sight to see any season of the year. Of course we couldn’t leave without buying some souvenirs in the gift shop…

Take your time when visiting Chatsworth… You can easily spend a whole day there without being bored!

Lyme Park

A second stately home we visited was Lyme Park. The die hard Pride and Prejudice fans of course know this house better as Darcy’s Pemberley as the exterior of this house is used in the BBC adaption.

When my husband dropped us off at the gates, we started walking across the grounds, making our way to the house. It’s quite a walk until you get a glimpse of the house. My daughter had already visited Lyme Park the year before and she was so looking forward to see my reaction as the house would come in sight… but this time we couldn’t see from afar because of the fog!!

We decided to visit the house first. It was far less crowded in Lyme Park than it was at Chatsworth. At Lyme Park you reach the grounds first so the visitors are immediately spread across the vast grounds and park before reaching the house.

The many rooms at Lyme Park are so beautiful… although the rooms in Chatsworth house are even grander than at Lyme Park, I preferred Lyme Park just a bit more. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the house, but believe me… it was all so stylish to walk around in… and we definitely wouldn’t mind being the mistress of this happily situated house 🙂

When we had made our way through the house, the April sun had started shining and made the gardens look even more beautiful. We followed a walk through the various gardens. There are also  different woods surrounding the gardens and if you’re lucky you can even try and spot some red deer.

 

We were both happy as Larry after our Lyme Park visit… we made our way into Disley where we met up with my husband and my two other kids. They had enjoyed their football game and we had enjoyed our time at Lyme Park…

Tired but very satisfied, we drove off to our lovely cottage…

Do you like visiting stately homes? Which ones can you recommend?

Love, Kathleen

Click here if you want to see a post about some French gardens we visited in Normandy last year!