Chatsworth

It has been over a week since I took a trek to Derbyshire to see one of the two great houses that I have wanted to see in person for a long time: Chatsworth House, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. What a place! The stables and carriage house are the size of grand manor in their own right as you can see, dwarfing the tourists wandering by.

The house was really too much to take in and trying to capture it all on film was a futile task. I just bought the book that has many of the grand images in perfect focus so I could concentrate on enjoying what I was seeing. To the left was a display of gold platters and chinese porcelain arranged in an over the top, yet understated, way. Let me try to explain.

The day I went to the house, they opened a new exhibit called "Flor-abundance," which seemed to be someone's bright idea to cover ever public room of the house with the most gaudy flower arrangements possible. In the main hall where you first come into the house and where visitors to the Cavendishes would have been received, there was a solid line of 5-foot high and 6'-wide flower arrangements in a room that was already dominated by floor to ceiling murals, now unable to be enjoyed because these obnoxious flowers were in the way. The chapel was unrecognizable as such as it was turned into one big dried herb arrangement. And I am not making this stuff up! The place smelled great but come on!

But then you have beautiful panels like this one where lovely game birds, fruits, and other sporting accessories were carved by Grinling Gibbons. These were so finely done that one would have thought they were real! Then you turned the corner and there were more of those flowers!

The other thing that I found a bit annoying was that the current Duke and Duchess have developed a penchant for the most random pieces of contemporary art possible. Now no offence to Lori and other friends who enjoy contemporary art but this was silly. A table covered in twenty pieces of beautiful glass vases of different forms all done in an opaque egg shell color with hints of amber was blocked by a giant 6-foot tall blue and white vase done in an abstract form...think Ming vase on LSD. And next to that, occupying most of the other open space in the room was something akin to "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree only 7-feet high and hung with pastel colored ornaments. What were they thinking? There was no sense of the space or what else was around. It was all just thrown together. What must the Dowager Duchess think?

Okay, enough ranting. There was plenty more to keep me in awe. As you can see, the dining room was a reasonable simple one. No tacky flowers here thank goodness.

To the left was an amazing light fixture set with candles. Wow!

Then there was the one of the few contemporary pieces I had to have a picture of since it made me think of Derby and the Billings' whippets, Tigger and Simon. Now here was a lovely sculpture but it was tucked away in the sculpture gallery, off to the side.

The lion is one of a pair, and quite a startling guardian of the entrace to the gift shop. I could see a pair like them sitting out on Park Avenue...couldn't you?

Finally, I was able to get out and see the gardens. They were the best part of the entire experience. Despite the clouds, they were every bit as lovely as the pictures I have seen of them.

I've included just a couple of them. This is the part of Chatsworth I would come back for. In addition, there are probably miles of public footpaths across the estate that I will some day go back and wander. Who knows...maybe Mr. Darcy will come riding up on a horse. It looks like he might at any minute.

To the left is the greenhouse, chock a block with exotic plants and citrus. Below is the stepped fountain flowing down toward the house from a folly at the top.

And last but not least, there were these lovely small plants that looked like large crocus. If it hadn't been late September, I might have assumed that's what they were but now I think they must be a kind of "surprise" lilly, if that is what they are called. These were everywhere.