English Countryside, English Heritage, Everyday Heritage, Everyday Life, PHOTOGRAPHY,

All Roads lead to Chatsworth…….

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Chatsworth …This way please

The holiday season has begun and depending upon just were in the UK you live, school is out and  you are either on holiday or about to begin.

So it is not surprising that Chatsworth House and Gardens were, to say the least, busy. Nice to see so many overseas family visitors all obviously enjoy themselves and making the most of our brief hot spot of summer weather.

So hot that it was of little surprise that one guaranteed location within the grounds was the Emperor Fountain…

DOI_8966_00013-bbThe Emperor Fountain and its plume of spray was  welcome relief on such a hot day.

The Emperor is gravity feed from lakes high on the hills above Chatsworth and stands at one end of the Canal Pond giving grand views back to the South Front of the House…

The grounds alone are a big attraction for many visitors and with the variety of styles it is not surprising.  Historically there are influences of the two most famous of British Landscapers…Capability Brown and Paxton. Despite the rich heritage, the Cavendish Family have over the generations added and adapted some areas in their own styles….the gardens now often being used for Outdoor Sculpture Exhibitions.

Hidden away in one corner of the Arboretum is this tribute to past and present members of the Cavendish family together with Royal visitors, Politicians and other Notable Visitors..

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And a word of warning for those of us wishing to move onto or up the property ladder….your responsibility doesn’t end when you acquire a property…it is only just the beginning….and with a Historic building such as Chatsworth that responsibility carries a high cost as can be witnessed here  (restorations is needed but I do feel more than a trifle disappointed for those who have never viewed the House before, maybe travelled from far away, when so much is hidden behind canvas and scaffolding )…

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But from a distance,  with the Emperor before you,  majestic Chatsworth still looks Spectacular

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21st July

(C) David Oakes 2016

13 thoughts on “All Roads lead to Chatsworth…….”

  3. A beautiful day for a stroll at Chatsworth. I love how many stately homes in England have vast, hugely vast grounds that are shaped and formed into different areas for human enjoyment. It’s like nature has to be controlled at all costs 🙂 I still can appreciate them though.
    Another place I have been to with an English friend who lives nearby at Chebsey.

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    1. I know what you mean about control but thankfully here at Chatsworth the estate as you know is much more than the massive formal gardens. The estate takes in Moorlands, Rivers, Forests and many Farms….without that heritage much of Derbyshire may well have suffered development in other ways. We are sometimes critical of the pasts so called Privileged Classes but I doubt that todays billionaires are as far sighted as to create and care for so much of our countryside. Have you been to Haddon Hall on any of your visits, its nearby though smaller well worth a visit.

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      1. Yes you are right David about the way these estates have preserved the countryside. No Haddon Hall doesn’t ring a bell, though I went to so many places in a short period of time that often the names escaped me.

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