We made our way east of our Welsh overnight and headed in the direction of Macclesfield. Today we visited two stately homes Lyme House and the other which is considered one of Britain’s greatest treasures, the seat of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth.
This was our second visit to Lyme House as we had a hasty look at this estate in 2005. This time we wanted a good look and it holds a place in our hearts as it was used for Mr Darcy’s Pemberley in the BBC series Pride and Prejudice. The house is situated on the edge of the Peak District Moors and has a commanding view of Manchester to the North. The house itself is glorious and was made even more gorgeous by the gardens which displayed the end of the summer plantings. One of its many claims to fame was the discovery of a rare book which is the only one yet discovered in Britain of this age that contains two ink colours in its printing. The book dates to 15 Century and is a religious Caxton Missal text. It included early written musical ‘notes’ for Gregorian Chants. This would have quite passed me by except that I had learned about such things in my first subject for the Bachelor of New Media Arts, so I was ‘well’ impressed. The book was used extensively by the family over hundreds of years and contains hand written text in the most beautiful script. Very special.
The book was housed in the library and the volunteer guide manning the room was keen to tells us that the ancient Greek marble sculptures (genuine)plastered into the walls of the room where souvenirs brought back from one of the past residence’s ‘Grand Tour of Europe’. Apparently the grand tour had to be cut short so he was only able to bring home a couple of souvenirs. I suggested to the volunteer guide that it is a good thing that his tour was cut short otherwise he might have ‘stolen’ a few more souvenirs from the historical buildings of Greece! The guide was not impressed with my comment.
This was our second visit to Lyme House as we had a hasty look at this estate in 2005. This time we wanted a good look and it holds a place in our hearts as it was used for Mr Darcy’s Pemberley in the BBC series Pride and Prejudice. The house is situated on the edge of the Peak District Moors and has a commanding view of Manchester to the North. The house itself is glorious and was made even more gorgeous by the gardens which displayed the end of the summer plantings. One of its many claims to fame was the discovery of a rare book which is the only one yet discovered in Britain of this age that contains two ink colours in its printing. The book dates to 15 Century and is a religious Caxton Missal text. It included early written musical ‘notes’ for Gregorian Chants. This would have quite passed me by except that I had learned about such things in my first subject for the Bachelor of New Media Arts, so I was ‘well’ impressed. The book was used extensively by the family over hundreds of years and contains hand written text in the most beautiful script. Very special.
The book was housed in the library and the volunteer guide manning the room was keen to tells us that the ancient Greek marble sculptures (genuine)plastered into the walls of the room where souvenirs brought back from one of the past residence’s ‘Grand Tour of Europe’. Apparently the grand tour had to be cut short so he was only able to bring home a couple of souvenirs. I suggested to the volunteer guide that it is a good thing that his tour was cut short otherwise he might have ‘stolen’ a few more souvenirs from the historical buildings of Greece! The guide was not impressed with my comment.
Traveling to Chatsworth we passed through quant Peak District villages and knew we were getting close to the great estate when the villages began to show signs of great historical prosperity. I confess I was not prepared for the grandeur of Chatsworth and again was ‘well’ impressed. We arrived at the house quite late so was only able to tour the rooms of the house that were open to visitors. The house has a current exhibition of floral art. As we passed through each room which was decorated in Baroque style (also taught in my 1st BNMA subject) we were surrounded by the beautiful scent of flowers and exquisite floral arrangements. The flowers helped to calm the extremely ‘over the top’ room decorations. Each room that we visited with the exception of the sculpture room had a painted ceiling, oak paneled walls and were extremely dark. 
I was however very pleased to see A Veiled Vestal Virgin of 1847 by Raffaelle Monti sculpture. Even up close the marble folds of the veil look like fine fabric. The Sculpture Gallery in the house was exquisite and well worth a visit for its beauty. Unlike the sculptures that we saw in Florence such as Michelangelo’s David, which were displayed in museums, this room was arranged to please the eye and it didn’t disappoint.Our caravan park is also set in the grounds of Chatsworth so we took the opportunity of a long walk in the estate grounds, watched the numerous trout swimming and looked for otters in the river before settling in for the night.
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