{"id":16018,"date":"2017-05-24T21:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-05-24T21:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=16018"},"modified":"2017-05-25T10:57:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T10:57:07","slug":"a-day-at-chatsworth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/a-day-at-chatsworth\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day at Chatsworth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If I was to win the biggest lottery on the planet, after doing various good deeds and helping out a few deserving friends and family members, I would build a house. \u00a0A HUGE house in the middle of rolling English countryside, where I could roller skate through the vast halls (once I had learned how) and have the best parties in the massive grounds. \u00a0Most importantly though, it would have to look like Chatsworth because it’s easily the most impressive stately home I have visited to date.<\/p>\n

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Chatsworth House is one of those houses that takes your breath away when you first spot it – nestled as it is in the midst of 105 acres of surrounding gardens and parkland… \u00a0 It dates back 450 years, and has been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family, who graciously open 30 of their grand rooms (out of 150 odd – they still don’t actually have to see anyone!) all year round for the public to have a good nose through.<\/p>\n

They obviously need a stack of money to keep this place going, and to be honest people are going to come and look anyway aren’t they, so they really don’t have to try very hard… \u00a0But they do try hard. \u00a0They want you to enjoy their beautiful home, and go home with precious memories of a really great day out. \u00a0 They want you to think to yourselves “you know what? \u00a0I am glad we parted with our hard earned cash today, it was a good experience, plus we are helping keep a gorgeous chunk of history open to the public AND looking spectacular*”… That’s what we came away thinking anyway…<\/p>\n

From the moment we turned up at the ticket desk (with the smallest member of our family in a front facing carrier – no pushchairs and no backpacks – understandably – there’s 4,000 years worth of art throughout the house!) we felt welcome to explore, and armed with audio guides explore we did . \u00a0 First stop the house itself.<\/p>\n

Our plan was to time this visit when the baby was due to have his nap, so we could investigate not only the impressive rooms, but the\u00a0House Style Exhibition in peace. \u00a0 This exhibition covers five centuries of fashion and adornment curated by the American Editor of Vogue. \u00a0Of course, this was right up the Small Girl’s street, and we raced through fashion history from 16th century Bess Hardwick<\/a> (creator and first lady of Chatsworth, and quite a formidable character by all accounts!) to beautiful present day couture creations (a lot of which belong to the Cavendish family themselves) from the likes of Helmut Lang and Alexander McQueen.<\/p>\n

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Grand house aside, this exhibition in itself is well worth a visit if fashion is your thing. \u00a0It’s on until the 22nd October.<\/p>\n

Of course, as is predictable when you had secretly hoped for such things, the Small Baby decided a sleep wasn’t on the cards so we couldn’t enjoy the house all that quietly, but actually it really didn’t matter, and amongst other things we enjoyed a rather unusual family hat trying on session in the #Hatsworth section that runs alongside House Style, which he might have been more enthusiastic about if he was asleep come to think of it…<\/p>\n

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Hatsworth at Chatsworth \u00a0– complete with Mr R’s rare pretend serious face…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We continued our tour of the house beneath exquisite painted ceilings and through impressive corridors both ancient and ultra modern (look out for commissioned corridor covered in tiles depicting the DNA of the Cavendish family by Devon based artist Jacob Van der Beugel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Can you believe this was covered up for years?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Time for a nap?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I spotted lots of lovely Lucien Freud portraits here too…) until finally, we came to an impressive final room full of giant marble sculptures.<\/p>\n

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Through the marble room. Perfect for roller skating…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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And as we passed giant sleeping lions whose paws pointed us in the direction of the tempting shop, and out into the grounds, the baby of course finally fell asleep…<\/p>\n

So with this in mind (and unable to sit down to appreciate the silence anyway out of fear that he would suddenly wake up in a hideous mood – when he’s in the carrier, you need to keep moving!!), we decided to embrace the fresh air and good weather, and set off across the grounds and up past the Playground and Farmyard (which we will save for another visit), climbing up the mildly perilous steps behind the fountain, until we suddenly popped up\u00a0in front of one of the many properties<\/a> across the grounds that you can actually stay in – the 16th Century Hunting Tower some 400ft above the main building. \u00a0 In fact, this particular tower was home to Prince William for a couple of weeks whilst he stayed to learn about farming, and if it’s good enough for him…<\/p>\n

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We carried on through the woodland to the right of this (some of us climbing massive ancient trees, and spotting faces in others), walking along a rhododendron covered ridge way until we came to the very top of a fountain, with Chatsworth looking rather uncharacteristically tiny far beneath us.<\/p>\n

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Can you spot the sleeping tree man?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Then it was down for a well deserved lunch in the old stable block (not \u00a0your average horse house!) before exploring the more manicured gardens, and the regal looking cascade…<\/p>\n

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Little Brother shepherding<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Keep your small people entertained by downloading a Little Explorers Garden Trail <\/a>before you visit, it’s full of things to spot, and interesting facts and figures to keep them happy, whilst you are preoccupied with whether they cut the grass with scissors, and how many people have slipped and fallen in the cascade when taking pictures…<\/p>\n

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There’s also a rather fabulous maze (which is a lot more modern than you might imagine – dating back to the early sixties) which is well worth getting lost in. \u00a0Or, if you’re feeling weary after completely destroying your fitbit target for the day, you could always step inside for a few minutes, then retrace your steps back out and enjoy a very pleasant half an hour amongst the hyacinths whilst the rest of your ultra competitive family get on with it. \u00a0 There’s a kind of willowy tree type thing right at the centre if anyone demands to know whether you’ve made it there or not!!<\/p>\n

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And after all that, we had time for a quick ice-cream pit stop before returning to our home for the week…<\/p>\n

Chatsworth really does have something for everyone, and it was lovely to see locals enjoying birthday celebrations in the grounds alongside visitors from as far away as Japan. \u00a0 \u00a0I really recommend you reserve at least a day of any visit to this area of the Peak District to do it justice. \u00a0 \u00a0Do pop into one of the two Devonshire pubs on the estate (or both, if you like pubs!), and visit the wonderful Farm Shop nearby for something for tea…<\/p>\n

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You can of course visit all entities of the house and gardens separately, but as you should really visit for the whole day anyway, I suggest you get a full ticket that covers everything. \u00a0We still left with so much to see even after a full day here…<\/p>\n

*You should be aware that the house is entering its fourth and final stage of restoration works, when we visited a wing was still covered in scaffolding, but that didn’t detract from our visit, as you can see from the photos!<\/em><\/p>\n

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