Chatsworth House

Olympics (7 of of 14 ):

We went to visit Chatsworth in Peak District National Park. This is a very famous palace and home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.

The house is quite amazing. It's HUGE. It's hard to say. Perhaps 50-100,000 square feet. The Estate is probably several square miles and the gardens is perhaps 500 acres (about 1 mile square). It's an immense and very beautiful place.

Yesterday we visited a museum in Sheffield concerning the industrial (steel) history of this area. The contrast of 18th/19th Century aristocratic wealth and industrial slums and provery was stark. I suppose it has always been like this and certainly continues today in a less obvious way. The family have fallen on hard times due to Death Duties and the Estate is managed by a Charitable Trust. The Duke has been bailed out by the public. However I bear no ill-will to the current Duke and his wife. They were born to face the challenge created by their anscestors and I believe they are very reasonable and nice people.

I can't think of any one item which stood out as "Goodness, this is unique." - it's the scale of wealth that's amazing. We were happy about the price of admission and the quality of catering. This is a "must visit" establishment.

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