By Maria Papagiannopoulou,
Chatsworth is, without a doubt, the Peak District’s crown jewel. Chatsworth House, a magnificent English country house located in over 1,000 acres of parkland, with over 100 acres of stunning formal gardens, a Farmhouse and children’s Adventure Playground, as well as cafés and gift stores, has really been home to the Cavendish family since the 16th century.
The Dukes of Devonshire’s ancestral seat was built in the English Baroque style in the 1550s and 1560s, under the direction of the formidable Bess of Hardwick.
From the approach road, it stands proudly in the landscape, with sweeping lawns to the front and wooded slopes to the back. The elaborately carved honey-hued soft marble glows in the Derbyshire light, as does the dazzling gold leaf affixed to each window frame.
More than thirty rooms in Chatsworth House are exposed to the public, each with stunning decor. The spectacular Painted Hall, regal State Rooms, renovated Sketch Galleries, and lovely Sculpture Gallery are all worth seeing.
You will find lavish furniture on a grand scale, as well as a world-famous collection of art spanning 4,000 years, including ancient Roman and Egyptian sculpture, Rembrandt, Reynolds, and Veronese masterpieces, and work by notable modern artists such as Lucian Freud, Edmund de Waal, and David Nash.
Chatsworth House is set on the banks of the River Derwent, surrounded by wooded hills and lush pastureland where red and fallow deer, as well as flocks of hardy sheep, graze. The grounds, which include wonderful woodland and riverside walks across the Derbyshire countryside, are open to the public for free.
There are also 105 acres of formal gardens constructed by the famed Capability Brown, which have been meticulously cultivated over 500 years. The Canal Pond, the Cascade, and the first Duke’s Greenhouse have all been replaced to make way for new styles, but the garden retains many of its original elements in the aforementioned.
The sheer grandeur of the gardens will astonish visitors of all ages, with lavish water features, outdoor sculptures, and enormous Victorian rock gardens, as well as kitchen gardens, sensory paths, and a maze that would stump even the most daring explorer.
Derbyshire, the place where the Chatsworth House is located, is in a historic, administrative, and geographic county in England’s East Midlands. The scenery spans from the austere moorlands of the northern Peak District to the Trent lowlands in the south, and industry includes everything from tourists in the Peak District to mining and engineering in the eastern and southern coalfields.
The county is home to numerous prehistoric sites, including the important Paleolithic site at Creswell Crags and the early Bronze Age site Arbor Low, near Youlgreave, which consists of a vast circle of practically flat stones. The Romans built a military network of roads and forts throughout Derbyshire, but Buxton, the Roman spa town Aquae Arnemetiae, is the only clearly nonmilitary structure. The area’s lead deposits were extensively utilized by the Romans.
Derbyshire became part of the kingdom of Mercia once the Anglo-Saxons arrived. The Danes conquered Repton, a Mercian religious center, in 873, and afterward settled in the area, establishing Derby as a borough. Until the 18th century, Derbyshire was primarily a pastoral county with some mining and quarrying.
Every year at Christmas, Chatsworth is transformed into a breathtaking holiday spectacle.
Chatsworth has a lovely Christmas market from November to December each year, with over 100 stalls selling a wide choice of Christmas presents and decorations, as well as traditional music and entertainment. It is the ideal way to get into the holiday spirit, while also finding one-of-a-kind gifts for the entire family. Top tip: visit in the late afternoon for a spectacular experience of the market at dusk.
From November through January, Chatsworth House is elegantly decorated for Christmas, with a different theme each year. Many of the rooms are decorated for the holidays, with breathtaking displays and massive dazzling Christmas ornaments. For many folks, Christmas is not complete without a trip to Chatsworth!
References
- Chatsworth House, wikipedia.org, Available here
- Chatsworth House and Park, peakdistrictinformation.com, Available here
