We went on a tour of Chatsworth before going into the parkland and even although it was quite early in the day it was packed with people. About half of them seemed to be Scots! Although there’s quite a lot to see, it’s obvious that only a fraction of the house is open to the public. I would love to know what the main staircase looks like as that’s usually the grandest part of stately homes.
Karen of Books and Chocolate was wondering if Chatsworth is what Jane Austen based Pemberley on in Pride and Prejudice. I read somewhere that Deborah Devonshire (the dowager duchess) believed that she recognised Chatsworth in Jane’s descriptions, and I suppose she should know. Jane does mention that Lizzie visits Chatsworth amongst other great houses in the Derbyshire area, the county does seem to have a plethora of them. But its the fact that Darcy’s sister is given the name Georgiana and that was the name of the 5th Duke of Devonshire’s wife who lived at Chatsworth in Jane Austen’s time which makes me think that she did really base Pemberley on Chatsworth. The house was used for parts of the 2005 P&P film, not a favourite of mine.
As you can imagine it’s just about impossible to get a photo without people in it but I took the one below of a stairway. I love the stairs themselves but I’m not so keen on the paintings, it’s all very heavy and dark looking but it fits in with the age of the house I suppose.
The ceiling in the photo below is of the room which was the 6th Duke’s dining room and it’s much brighter and airier with the crystal chandeliers and white and gold paint.
And this is the dining table, loaded with silver and looking wonderful. I’m so glad that I don’t have to clean all that silver though!
I could have quite happily settled down in the library which is below, I think it would probably be one of the cosiest rooms in Chatsworth.
I might be blogging about the garden and parkland again tomorrow, that really was my favourite bit.
Oh what wonderful rooms. And I agree you can tell a lot about a house from the staircase.
Now if someone could bring me tea and cakes I will be in the library.
Jo,
Me too! We would want someone to make up a roaring fire for us in the winter too, then we could have toasted crumpets!
That is too gorgeous! I agree with Jo, just hand me some tea and scones and I’d be settled in that library for a good long read.
And I’m about to start reading Georgiana’s biography for my Jane Austen book group! We’ve finished all the works so this year we’re concentrating on books and authors relating to her time period. I didn’t realize she was the one who lived at Chatsworth, how serendipitous. I’ll have to print out some images to bring to the discussion.
Karen,
I hope to get all of the photos on to flickr soon. I hope there will be some there which will be of interest to people! I saw the Georgiana book in the Chatsworth shop and nearly bought it before deciding on the Mitford sister letters.