England Guide
The West Midlands and the Peak District
Chatsworth House
Opening time: Mid-March to late Dec daily 11am–5.30pm, last admission 4.30pm; gardens till 6pm, last admission 5pm
Price: House & gardens £13.50, gardens only £7.45
Address: Just south of Baslow (access on foot or via the A619)
Website: www.chatsworth.org
Chatsworth House was built in the seventeenth century by the first Duke of Devonshire and has been owned by the family ever since. These days, it's a fantastically popular tourist attraction, the clean lines of its vast Palladian frontage perfectly balanced by the undulating partly wooded parkland to the south and west – best admired from the B6012.
Many visitors forgo the house altogether, concentrating on the gardens instead – an understandable decision given the predictability of the assorted baubles accumulated by the family over the centuries. Nonetheless, amongst the maze of grandiose rooms and staircases, there are several noteworthy highlights, including the showpiece GreatDining Room, which has its table set as it was for the visit of George V and Queen Mary in 1933. And then there are the paintings. Amongst many, Frans Hals, Tintoretto, Veronese and van Dyck all have a showing and there's even a Rembrandt – A Portrait of an Old Man – hanging in the chapel.
The gardens are a real treat and owe much to the combined efforts of Capability Brown, who designed them in the 1750s, and Joseph Paxton (designer of London's Crystal Palace), who had a bash seventy years later. Amongst all sorts of fripperies, there are water fountains, a rock garden, an artificial waterfall, a grotto and a folly as well as a nursery and greenhouses. Afterwards, you can wend your way to the café in the handsomely converted former Stables.