Chatsworth House

Chatsworth House was another "must see" for us. A grand old house, an historic estate, and still the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. It's very grand indeed, with massive house and grounds.

More importantly, it was used as Pemberley in the recent Pride and Prejudice movie with Kiera Knightly so a visit was essential.

We had actually popped in a couple of days before, as we passed by on our way elsewhere. We had arrived before opening time, but already cars were queuing to park. So we knew that the day we came here, we had to get in early. We were also prepped well, having watched a DVD about it at our B&B the night before. So we knew a bit about the history and what we would see.

The day we visited, the weather forecast was for hot and sunny, and it was a public holiday. And boy was it busy! By the time we left, there were literally thousands of cars. The entire grounds, all nearby surrounding fields, were transformed into makeshift car parks.

We started outside, walking up the back of the gardens, past the cascade, which was due to be turned on later. This was what we saw initially, and looked forward to the water being turned on later.

We then went to the man made rock formations and waterfall, and through to the maze.

The area around the maze was filled with medieval enthusiasts, in costume, teaching people about the days of old like craft, cooking, music and dancing. A nice atmosphere. Most interesting to me was a display of birds of prey, with trainers on hand. They had some beautiful owls, eagles and falcons. And look at this handsome fellow!

We walked through the maze, and gave it a good attempt, but all we found were dead ends. And we were a little pressed for time. We continued over to the lake by the grotto. All just amazing.

We then hurried back to the cascade in time to see it be turned on. Being a special weekend, they were turning the top water feature on too. It wasn't quite as beautiful as expected, this is what we saw.

We then headed for the indoors, but not before looking at the private gardens which include the steps used in Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately for Helen, she wasn't able to walk up them.

We also encountered this incredible rooster roaming around free. He was huge, as high as my knees, and strutting his stuff like he owned the place.

Next we headed inside to take the self guided tour. It is truly amazing inside. Very ornate, and well kept. Unlike most places we've visited in the UK, photos were allowed. I am therefore pleased to share with you a taste of what we saw.

In particular, they had an exhibit specially about the movies and films that have been shot at Chatsworth, including costumes. And Helen was especially pleased to see the bust of Mr Darcy, which was made specially for the movie.

We also went through where the real statues are kept, which is where the bust was situated in the movie.

We had more to see elsewhere today, so left. We would have liked to stay longer, and see more, especially outside, but it wasn't to be. Probably a good thing though, because as we left the queues to purchase tickets were getting rather long.