I’m back home, and I certainly have had a few adventures as well as taken a few photos. I probably have enough for posts for the rest of the year!

When we left off, we had just ventured through snowy Matlock and Bakewell in Derbyshire, but our destination for the day was Chatsworth. It’s the country home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been since Tudor times, but as a 19th Century literature and drama fan, Chatsworth is one of those places that come up regularly. It is mentioned by Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice, and appears regularly in TV and film as either somewhere very grand, e.g. Mr Darcy’s house, Pemberley, or as itself (as in the film, The Duchess). I particularly visited Derbyshire to see it, and the day was a very big adventure indeed.

After walking to Matlock and catching a local bus to Bakewell, we took yet another bus that dropped us off at Baslow, on the northern edge of the estate – in the middle of a blizzard.

We crossed a bridge and ventured along the country lane to the entrance of the Chatsworth Park.

It really was as cold as it looks, especially with an icy wind blowing. But as we passed through the gates, the sun miraculously appeared, and what did we see? Sheep!

Lovely, black-faced, heritage sheep, grazing in the snow.

They didn’t seem to feel the cold at all. And the parkland with its old trees and pastures were so glittering in the sunlight and beautiful. As far away from dusty Australian paddocks as could be.