I ended up with quite a compilation of Finnish sketches from our three weeks there. I tried hard to capture the landscapes around our cabin at Nallikari, because they were inspiring.
I had also compiled a collection of sketches from England.
But my best painting was one I did when I got home, of that snowy day at Chatsworth.
We braved the cold outside and found that the fountain had partially frozen over.
Even the ducks kept out of the water.
One last look at the grand house.
And we were back across the park to catch the bus back to Matlock.
There were more frescoed ceilings to gaze up on, particularly in the wing that formed the Royal Suites.
It was furnished in the late 17th Century for William III and his wife Mary II, hence why everything was so grand. Unfortunately, they never came. Other royalty did however visit the house – Queen Victoria visited it twice; once when she was still a princess, and later with Prince Albert.
One thing the Dukes had in common over the years was their love of art – there are works throughout the house, both classical and modern. There was also a separate sculpture gallery that housed precious busts from Ancient Greece, such as the one below.
As well as Italian sculptures from the Renaissance.
The gallery was conveniently located next to the dining room, so that guests could peruse the collection while waiting for dinner to be served. It however did not have a bust of Mr Darcy (aka. Actor Matthew Macfadyen) – he was in the gift shop!
The Downton Abbey-like sumptuousness continued in the dining hall. It still gets used occasionally in this way, but I wouldn’t want to be the one ironing the tablecloth or polishing the dinner service. In the old days before gas or electric lights, the maximum time allowed for a meal is four hours – the time it takes for the candles to burn out.
Hubby said he’d love to have a library like this. I would think there were a few rare books here.
The house was surprisingly light for an old place – it certainly wasn’t lacking in big windows.
Even though we didn’t venture out into the formal gardens (it was much too cold for that) we did get a sneak peak at them.
We entered Chatsworth House, and what an entrance it was.
The original house was Elizabethan but was added to over the years. The facade of the northern wing that we saw was an 18th Century creation, but in the entrance hall one could see the original Elizabethan vision, with its wonderful Italian fresco ceiling.
The grand staircase contained portraits of inhabitants past and present. The main painting of the horseman with sabre drawn was of the 1st Duke of Devonshire, who lived in the 17th Century.
It was getting colder by the minute.
We hoped that the house would appear soon. And it did.
Chatsworth is a grand old house, and very popular with visitors. There were quite a few in the house and in the grounds, and it was a weekday in the dreads of March. I imagine that there would be twenty times that amount on a nice July weekend.
We passed through the golden gates.
And into the inner garden, where there were lots of little things of interest.
Next, we enter the house proper.
We passed yet more sheep grazing in snowy pastures.
But some of these sheep were definitely on the move to (not quite) greener pastures.
The grass near the river seemed to be a bit more inviting.
Although the water looked very forbidding in the cold weather.
The landscape opened up the further into the park we went.
We were greeted by open parkland with grazing herds of sheep and deer. The latter might have been kept exclusively for sport in the old days, but now they are also farmed, like the sheep. The produce is sold at the estate’s impressive farmyard shop.
We didn’t have too much time to get used to the sun before it disappeared again.
Luckily, the sheep were there to show us the way to the house so we really couldn’t get lost.
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.
Static and Silence 