We put off visiting Chatsworth House for a long time. One, it’s pretty expensive considering it’s its own thing and not part of English Heritage or National Trust. And B, whenever we found ourselves in that neck of the woods, we were always doing something else.
We finally made it out to Chatsworth House to check out their Christmas set-up. Unfortunately, much of the house is rearranged for Christmas, so it’s not going to be the same as when you visit during the regular season. I thought that it would just be how the house would be set-up for a normal traditional Christmas, but they move furniture out of the way to get the whole place set-up per that year’s theme.
This year’s theme was Alice in Wonderland. It was neat to see how they translated a non-Christmas story into all the decorations. I have to say, they did a pretty good job. The whole place was decked out in cards and clocks and flamingos and hedgehogs, with different rooms dedicated to different aspects of the story.
The gardens didn’t have anything special going on related to Christmas, but they are still pretty nice. We didn’t walk the entire garden, because it’s pretty big. But we took our time through the maze, walked to the top of the rock garden, journeyed through the coal hole, and checked out the cascade.
Chatsworth House
Bakewell
Derbyshire
DE45 1PP
Click here for Opening Times
BONUS – Hello Mr. Darcy!
From an information sheet at Chatsworth: “In the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Chatsworth featured as Pemberley, the residence of Mr. Darcy. It is believed that Jane Austen actually based her idea of Pemberley on Chatsworth. As a souvenir from the filming, the bust of Mr. Darcy, played by Matthew Macfadyen, can be seen on display in the shop.”
Think Tran 