Gillian Thornton learns about Dukes at Chatsworth and Tarts in Bakewell
One of the many things I love about living in Britain is the way you can discover a totally different landscape and lifestyle just a couple of hours from home. Particularly useful if you have limited time or just want a short break between longer holidays.
As my husband and I drove closer to the Derbyshire Dales, acres of arable gave way to pastureland criss-crossed with dry stone walls. And in the distance, the landscape rolled away in a series of substantial rounded hills, dotted with farms and villages. So very different from our Home Counties home barely 100 miles away.
We had booked a self-catering cottage in Baslow, a village near Bakewell on the edge of Chatsworth Park, focal point of our short summer break. One of Britain’s most recognisable stately homes – thanks to movies like Pride and Prejudice and The Duchess, and TV dramas such as Peaky Blinders and Death comes to Pemberley – the home of the Dukes of Devonshire had somehow escaped our radar. It was time to tick something else off our UK Bucket List.
Book ahead on the Chatsworth website to secure a timed entry slot to the house and free parking. Then enjoy at your leisure the vast park landscaped by ‘Capability’ Brown in the 18th century; the formal gardens and water features; farmyard and children’s play area.
Nothing remains of the original house, built in the 16th century by William Cavendish and his wife Elizabeth. Widowed at a young age, Elizabeth was to marry twice more, eventually becoming ‘Bess of Hardwick’, the richest woman in Tudor England. Today’s vast property dates largely from the 17th and 18th centuries, and there are more than 25 rooms to explore, so I recommend paying £3 for the audio-visual guide which allows you to discover the rooms and contents at your own pace.
You finish up, inevitably, in the gift shop, but it’s a great place for picking up presents themed to various aspects of the house and park, including Jane Austen who stayed at nearby Bakewell and is thought to have modelled Pemberley on the property. Don’t be surprised to come across a bust of actor Matthew MacFadyen playing Mr Darcy in the 2005 film, but do be sure to heed the notice ‘Please do not kiss!’. If you really can’t resist, treat yourself to a small replica to take home!
Whether your interest is in art or architecture, history or gardens, there is plenty at Chatsworth to intrigue and delight, although we did find the audio guide a little light on the many colourful characters associated with the house. Think 18th century socialite Georgiana Spencer, wife of the 5th Duke, and Deborah Mitford, wife of the 11th Duke. But the 134-page guidebook is excellent value at £7.95 and there are plenty of biographies to choose from in the gift shop.
Outside are many of the things you might expect at a grand stately home. A kitchen garden, greenhouses, and a maze. But many unusual features too such as the giant rockery begun in 1842 by Chatsworth’s celebrated head gardener Joseph Paxton, and the towering Emperor Fountain, tallest gravity-fed fountain in the world for 160 years. Chatsworth’s famous Cascade is, however, out of action for the foreseeable future awaiting essential restoration.
Today, the whole operation is run as a registered charity by the Chatsworth House Trust, who oversee conservation, restoration and rebuilding for the benefit of everyone. The commercial operation also includes a well-stocked farm shop and café where we enjoyed an excellent light lunch with countryside views, plus local inns, a hotel in Baslow, and several self-catering cottages.
So popular is the estate that you are unlikely to experience an intimate visit, but Chatsworth was built for grand social occasions and as you pass from one opulent room to another, it’s not hard to imagine ladies in crinolines and their aristocratic husbands swishing amongst the furnishings.
But leave time to explore the wider area too. Closest town to Chatsworth is Bakewell, a historic market town on the banks of the river Wye. Expect stone buildings and little courtyards, riverside walks, public gardens and an arched medieval bridge, plus abundant retail temptation. And no visit is complete without sampling Bakewell Tart topped with sprinkled almonds or white icing, or the less well-known Bakewell Pudding.
Just outside the town centre, Bakewell’s old railway station was once a busy stop on the Midland Railway between London and Manchester. Today the tracks have gone and the Monsal Trail is an 8.5 mile traffic-free route for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, passing over Headstone Viaduct at Monsal Head, through four tunnels and beside two restored mills. Step-free access is available at both Bakewell and nearby Hassop station where you can also hire bikes.
A few miles north of Bakewell, we also visited ‘The Plague Village’ of Eyam. In 1655, a local tailor ordered a box of materials from London, unwittingly importing bubonic plague which was to kill 260 local residents. But Eyam selflessly put itself into voluntary lockdown in an attempt to stop the disease spreading, food being delivered by outsiders to pick-up points.
Discover the full story at Eyam Museum, visit the parish church with its commemorative Plague Window, and read the boards outside pretty cottages where former residents lost one family member after another. Particularly relevant today after the Covid lockdowns of 2020, Eyam presents a very different side of Peak District history. A moving contrast to Chatsworth in an area that offers heritage visits and walking trails in some of England’s most beautiful countryside.
Next steps
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