Chatsworth Estate and a great bike ride

Saturday7th October

 

Yes, we are staying on the Chatsworth Estate. We had a look through the main house (Pemberly for fans of the BBC Pride and Prejudice series) but decided that it wasn't for us. We had forgotten to pack black tie, the tails and long evening gown needed for dinner, and besides we would probably have difficulty making small talk with the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire who actually live in the house - at least for some of the year. So, we settled on (Bruce had booked some 6 months ago) Holly Cottage in the Estate Village of Pilsley. Turned out to be a lovely choice, especially after the York Youth Hostel. Large room, large en-suite, large bed, large TV - what more do you need! Pilsley is one of 3 estate villages and is extremely picturesque. All the buildings are stone and gates, fences, front doors, down-pipes, guttering are all painted the same colour blue - even the church in one village, and the school in another, have the same colour scheme, chosen I imagine, by the Duke or the Duchess.

 

Pilsley has the only Post Office, right next to Holly Cottage and also run by our host Sarah. From our room we look over neat back yards with vegetable gardens, the only pub, the Devonshire Arms is one minute walk away and serves lovely food, and we are able to walk to the Estate Farm Shop for afternoon tea. The Estate itself is huge - there is 1000 acres of parkland around the main house alone, and then there are several farms with thousands of sheep, forests for timber production and the tourism industry built around it all is just mammoth. Although it was quite cold and windy we spent 4 hours viewing the house and gardens. It was almost overwhelming. It all started when Henry VIII granted the land to the Sir William Cavendish who had supported King Henry in his struggles with the church and with the money he also received he and his wife Bess started building a house in the mid 1500's. Their son became the first Earl of Devonshire, the 4th Earl was made the first Duke, thanks to the then King and Queen and now, 16 generations on the estate is still lived in and managed by the Duke (the 12th) but it is owned by the  Chatsworth House Trust. Some of the rooms were just amazing with painted walls and ceilings. There was art work on all the walls, a library with 1500 books and a suite of rooms built hundreds of years ago on the expectation of a royal visit which never happened. The gardens, developed by "Capability' Brown in the 1700's were also amazing - the rock garden particularly outstanding both in it's size and concept. There were literally thousands visiting today and the Estate must be a major employer for the district. We retired to our cottage in the village quite exhausted by all we had taken in - still a nice meal in a pub built in the 1780's lifted our spirits some what. There was only one other couple dining, the owner was a very jovial chap and we had some very funny conversations across the room.

The stables - now has three restaurants and a shop

Wall and ceiling of the chapel inside the house - several rooms were painted like this.

A bedroom for a single guest

A small part of the rock garden

Pool at the end of the house - I offered to take off my jumper, jump in and then come wading out but my lady companion suggested I couldn't quite make a Mr Darcy - What's he got that I haven't got?

Sunday 6th October

 

Weather looking good, some blue sky and very little wind. So, after a lovely breakfast which included smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, we were off to a nearby town where we hired some hybrid bikes and then along the Monsal Bike Trail we went - not at a very rapid rate of knots. 

 

A terrific 8 mile ride along an old train route which took us through deep cuttings, high across gorges on viaducts, through tunnels - three of which were about half a kilometre long and curved, if the lights went out you would not be able to see a thing. We saw great trees, farmland, cute villages (of course), fast flowing rivers, a limestone works, old stations and lots of people on bikes or walking with dogs. A very happy and relaxing morning and in the afternoon we just lazed about the village and the Estate - quite an 'English' Sunday.

 

I have not been able to sort out the email problems yet but if you wanted to say hello try an SMS on 0439966370 or an email on bruce.bertram@bigpond.com - might work, but can't guarantee it.