July 31: Haddon and Chatsworth

Friday morning we caught a train out to a small town called Chesterfield, in the Derbyshire area of England. A bus picked us up at the train station to take us out to Haddon Hall. Haddon Hall is one of the best surviving medieval homes in England. Its history dates back to the 12th century. The main families of the house are the Vernon’s and the Manners. It is now owned and lived in by Lord and Lady Edward Manners. It was abandoned as a home in the 1700’s, then in the 1920’s the 9th Duke and Duchess of Rutland restored it and made it livable. There are now some modern parts to the house, like a kitchen, but the original kitchen is still used once a year for a Tudor group dinner. Besides the house, we also got to tour the chapel and the courtyards. The chapel was very small compared to others that we’ve seen, but it was still really pretty. Originally, all the walls had painting on them, but now all of the color and most of the base has faded away. It is still possible to see some patterns and images though. One wall in particular has a very large depiction of St. Christopher carrying Jesus through the river. There is also a carved memorial to one of the Lords of the house. It is not the original carving, however. It depicts the young Lord in his death. Apparently he died very young, and his mother carved a memorial. Haddon Hall had a really interesting collection of Tudor furniture and décor. It wasn’t the most extravagant of the places that we’ve visited, but it was very rich in a historical sense. It was probably extravagant at one point in time, but it’s very worn now. It’s pretty close to what I would imagine medieval places to look; dark and dreary, with lots of stone and almost a small castle-like appearance. Besides being a home and a tourist attraction, Haddon has also been used to film a few movies, such as The Princess Bride, Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth and others.
After Haddon Hall we took the bus over to Chatsworth. Our bus driver told us that Haddon and Chatsworth are basically neighbors, but the region is full of hills, so you can’t see one from the other, or drive straight across. Chatsworth has been and still is the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, probably the most well known Dukes and Duchesses throughout history. Lady Georgiana, the one that the movie The Duchess is about, lived there with her husband, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. As usual, the weather wasn’t the greatest, so we decided to tour the gardens first to try to avoid the rain. The land at Chatsworth is pretty extensive, so we spent about an hour and a half going through some of the gardens (really, we missed a lot of them). We walked down to the coal tunnel, which is still open to the public, but decided not to go in. It’s been raining for a couple of weeks, so there was quite a bit of water laying in the bottom of the tunnel and we didn’t feel like getting that wet, so we just took pictures outside of the tunnel and pretended that we walked through it. From there we went up to the Rock Garden, which was really cool. It had rock formations that you could walk through, waterfalls over some rocks, and a lookout point that we hiked up to. It was probably the most creative of the gardens we’ve seen since it used a different medium than pretty plants and flowers. Next to the Secret Garden at Blenheim, this one was my second favorite. From the Rock Garden we cut through a very muddy path (Kylee and Michelle were both in sandals, and it was really entertaining) to the Sensory Gardens. This particular garden apparently was designed to intrigue all of the senses, but I didn’t really get that from it. It smelled good, and I touched a plant, but that was about the extent of the use of my senses. By this time it was about 2, and we hadn’t eaten yet, so we went to the restaurant. It was ridiculously overpriced (I paid 8 pounds, which is about $14 for a bowl of soup, chips, a roll, and a piece of cheesecake) but aren’t they all? It was pretty good though, and we were hungry so it fit our needs. The cheesecake was amazing…probably the best part of my lunch (that makes me sound like a fat kid). After lunch, we headed back to tour the house, which surprisingly was the fastest part of the day. It only took about an hour. There was one section that was dedicated to an exhibition showing the filming of The Duchess and the history behind it. It was really interesting to see all of the history and compare it to how it was portrayed in the movie. The normal part of the house was so pretty. The staircases were some of my favorite of the ones we’ve seen. They were pretty basic, but the banisters were gorgeous and the walls around were covered in paintings with large paintings above the landings. I feel like we missed a lot of the house because it’s currently under a very extensive restoration plan. The sculpture room was also very beautiful, and this room can actually be seen in the Kiera Knightly version of Pride and Prejudice. After touring the house, we took the bus back to the station and a train back to London. We didn’t get back to London until almost 8, so the rest of the night was pretty relaxed; we just hung out in the flats and worked on homework…that seems to be how most of our evenings are spent in London. Well, at least the flats are nice!