Chatsworth

Originally, there was a Tudor building here built by Bess of Hardwick from 1552. Bess was married many times and her fourth husband was the Earl of Shrewsbury. Because the Earl was responsible for the detention of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was held a prisoner here on several occasions between 1569 and 1584.

The son of Bess and the Earl of Shrewsbury became the 1st Earl of Devonshire.

The present Chatsworth house dates from 1686 to 1707 and is mainly the work of the 4th Earl who, in 1694, became the 1st Duke of Devonshire. Chatsworth house is often called the 'Palace of the Peak'.

The 1,000 acre park was constructed by Capability Brown in 1761 for the 4th Duke. Lancelot (Capability) Brown was so called as he would often say of an area that "This has capabilities". The 6th Duke caused the present 100 acre gardens to be laid out by Sir Joseph Paxton (who later designed the Crystal Palace) in the 1840s.

There are two major water features of the Chatsworth gardens. The Emperor Fountain is a single 290 feet high spout, which is the tallest in Britain. The other is an ornamental cascade, down which water has continually flowed since 1696.

In the grounds, there is a children's adventure playground and farmyard (these are NOT the same thing!). In addition, there are daily milking demonstrations in the afternoon.

In the house itself, a major attraction is an incredibly life like painting of a violin. It is in the State Music room and can be easily overlooked.

The rest of the house is elaborately furnished and has outstanding wall hangings along with a magnificent collection of paintings. It takes about an hour to wander around the interior of Chatsworth. If a guided tour is required, these need to be booked in advance.

The house has an interesting aspect. When it was being built, the two halves of the front would have been several feet apart at the meeting point. To cover up this blunder, the central portion was added, which conveniently hides this building error.

There is a rather pleasant restaurant in a conservatory.

The park is open all year. The house, grounds, farmyard, gift shops and restaurant are open from 13th March to 23rd December 2011 from 11am to 5:30pm.

There are many different prices to visit Chatsworth House. If you book your tickets online before you visit you can save 10% on the prices. Some examples are:

Family Pass for all attractions £48.50

See also the details of the village of Edensor.

The official Chatsworth House web site can be found at www.chatsworth.org/