Chatsworth House

I'm not sure how many words I'll put into this post, because honestly it's just one of those places you need to experience in person. There may be more beautiful pieces of land, or areas that allow you to feel more secluded, but honestly, Colton and I were blown away by the beauty of Chatsworth.

Chatsworth is the home of the Duke and Duchess and Devonshire but if you've ever heard of the place it's because of Pride and Prejudice, specifically the movie starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden.

The label asks that you not Kiss the statue

It took us three trains and a bus totaling up to four hours to reach the house, an amount of time that seriously made me concerned whether this excursion was "worth it"; I am the Austen fanatic here and I felt bad dragging Colt along for such a distance to see just one thing and then head back to London.

My fears were unnecessary as this trip ended up being our absolute favorite day in England (Sorry Phantom and Who). Chatsworth resides in the Peaks District of England and is gorgeous, with grass and trees achieving that quintessential dark green color only seen in fantastic period dramas that make us girls wish we lived back in the 1800s, riding in carriages and attending balls. 

We hardly spent time in the village of Matlock but I wish we had had more time to wander along its quaint streets, absorbing a little more of small town England.

We bought fruit at the farmer's market, hopped on the bus and went "full tourist" as we drove through the countryside to the estate.

See, we took pictures of ponies because they were ponies in an English field. Full tourist.

Parked cars covered the ground as a country fair was in full swing, which meant that some of the portions of the grounds were unavailable for us to visit but this still left much to see.

The house is impressive no doubt, and if we were really into art I'm sure we would have spent a much longer period of time wandering through its halls. However, we were happy to admire the pretty rooms and "ooh" and "aw" at the elegant furnishings and immense collection of antiques.

What we really fell in love with was the grounds.

They were pristine, and what areas weren't pristine (we only saw one spot) there was a sign declaring an apology for their lacking.

It's supposed to be spinning and the water was down

We meandered through the Kitchen Garden, where grounds staff grow produce and herbs for use in the house kitchen and any leftovers are sold in the farm store (sadly this was closed because of the fair, boo!).

We would've been there much longer if I had allowed Colton to take pictures of every single butterfly and bee that came into his view.

We wandered along the path until we came to the fountain whose waters flow down slippery steps, inviting visitors of all ages to take off their shoes and gingerly walk them. It was much warmer than I had anticipated, so I happily slipped off my boots to walk in the ice-cold water.

I lied, there are quite a few words in this post, but really, if you ever make it over to merry ol'England and have a love for nature, do yourself a favor and visit Chatsworth—you don't have to go in the house but at least give yourself the pleasure of walking around it's beautiful grounds.