But Derbyshire has many beauties, has it not?

Hello Everyone! Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. This is not Tom writing but Kylie. After much long-distance arm twisting, I have finally decided to write. I may not be as witty as some people, but I will aim to be slightly more informative.

Last weekend, our family hired a car and drove three hours to Derbyshire to enjoy the last of what summer had to offer. Why Derbyshire? (I hear you ask.) Well, a certain piece of literature described it as the best of all the counties. To quote from the miniseries (which is easily located on the web whereas (alas!) my copy of the book is still in a box in Suffolk):

But Derbyshire has many beauties, has it not?

Indeed. To me Derbyshire is the best of all counties.
You will judge for yourself whether Chatsworth is not the equal of Blenheim.
And surely these southern counties have nothing to compare to the wild and
untamed beauty of the Peaks.

So we went to explore it for ourselves. The photo above is from one of the wild and untamed bits... apparently. Of course, nothing in England is really wild and untamed: there are too many sheep for that. Originally this area (and most of England) would have been woodland, but the land was cleared first for grazing and then cropping (and not to try to curb inflation of the leaf currency, contrary to popular opinion), and sheep ensure that any aspiring trees are mown down in their tracks. Of course, trees would only get in the way of the view, which is deliciously green and... well English. Traipsing around the countryside also appears to be very English - we were conspicuous by our Australian accents. In fact, all weekend we seemed to go places where the majority of people were English families (complete with dog) on a day out. Yes, I know we're in England, but after spending time in Bath (where, if you want to ask directions, you first have to ask someone whether they're local) it is a novelty.

But Derbyshire isn't all countryside. It also has big houses, although this next house was in the neighbouring county of Cheshire. The family weren't at home for the summer but the grounds were delightful.

Does any of this look familiar? I hope so. I got quite excited seeing it. This is actually the rear of the house. There are archways from both the front and rear of the house going into the central courtyard. The 'front' door is actually located on the side of the house, off the courtyard. Which means, of course, that the house isn't quite as big as it seems from the outside as it's hollow in the inside, but it does mean that most rooms do get some natural light.


Alas! No Mr. Darcy! Anyone else for a swim in the lake?

The place is Lyme Park, originally owned by the Legh family but now a National Trust property. So the family really weren't home for the summer. The house was originally Tudor, but was remodelled in the 1720s by some Italian architect and now resembles an Italianate palace. Apart from starring as Pemberley (or, at least, the outside of it), it does have an interesting history. The original grant of land from the crown came about because of services rendered to the Black Prince (Prince Edward, 1330-1376) during the Hundred Years War. The Black Prince was young and leading one of his early campaigns when his standard was captured. The Legh family ancestor was the one to regain the flag, but he did this by chopping off the arm of the enemy carrying it. Rigor mortis set in, leaving the arm still clutching the standard when he returned. The Prince was very happy, sought to reward the soldier with land and, two generations later (these things take time), the family were granted the land which is now Lyme Park. The family were prodigiously proud of their history and so incorporated the arm grasping the standard on to their coat of arms, and then used it as a decoration on the ceiling. 19 times. Just to reinforce the point.

Lyme Park also has a 1400-acre medieval deer park, so we had venison for lunch at the restaurant on site. Venison is cheaper than beef here. It's going to be a long while before we have fillet steak again.


Another afternoon - another walk. This photo was taken on the way down from Mam Tor on the High Peak estate. The countryside looks more wild and untamed than the first photo. It was even picturesque in parts. Eliza really didn't like this part of the walk. We were up on a ridge and it was windy. She cheered up when we got out of the wind and found some sheep... and a family out walking the dog. Sheep and dogs and little children running around: such were Eliza's highlights of the weekend.

We also spent a day at Chatsworth. Chatsworth is larger and grander than Lyme Park, and is actually located in Derbyshire. I'll leave it to another post to describe it.