This time we are at Chatsworth
House you may well recognize it from the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. We're going to show you the beautiful gardens
and go inside the house today, so stay with us! Welcome to the incredible grounds of Chatsworth
House, home to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. A title that has passed down through
16 generations of the Cavendish family. It was a very warm and thus busy day to visit.
Once we were past this queue we could enter the extensive gardens and explore the wonderful
themed areas in relative peace and quiet. There are 105 acres of gardens to keep
you busy we only had half a day here and could not cover everything but we'll show
you what we picked as our must-see areas. You will want to plan to spend the whole
day on the estate to get the most out of it. We have a pre-booked timed entry to the house
so we'll head inside later in the video. The house and gardens were first constructed by
Sir William Cavendish and Bez of Hardwick in 1555. We are first heading to a more modern
edition, the only remaining glasshouse of three Chatsworth had. I say more modern
it was built in 1824 by Joseph Paxton as an orchid house for the sixth Duke. The
grapevines have been here since the 1920s and it looks like it's going to
be another bumper crop this year. The 1970s display greenhouse with three
temperature zones was closed due to covid. The cottage garden is a delightful area of box,
privet and yew hedging. It was created in 1989 and is maintained by the two Chatsworth
gardener trainees that join each year. An area previously used for horse grazing
became the kitchen garden in 1991. Whilst Chatsworth has been growing its own
fruit and veg, herbs and flowers for centuries, this three-year project has produced just the most
wonderful part of the estate that feeds the house, provides fresh-cut flowers for the rooms and
herbs and veg for the visitor's restaurant. After a lovely pleasant walk through the
woodlands, we hear the sounds of rushing water and children playing in the garden's
famous water feature. The Cascades. Built in 1696, they were swiftly remodelled and the grand baroque temple or Cascade House
designed by Thomas Archer was added at the top. It has 24 cut steps each slightly
different and with a variety of textures so that each gives a different
sound when water runs over and down it. It was the busiest part of the gardens
and I suspect it was due to the weather and the school holidays. Even with
the crowds, it was impressive to see. Interestingly all the fountains
and waterworks on the estate a gravity-fed from a lake 400
feet above the main grounds. You may well recognize the house
and gardens from scenes in the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with
Keira Knightley and Matthew McFadden. This was Pemberley House,
the residence of Mr Darcy. In fact, it's thought that Jane Austen may have
based Pemberley house on Chatsworth following a visit to Bakewell in 1811. You can see where
she stayed in our separate video on Bakewell. The first Duke installed a
fountain, the biggest in the country but when it was thought Tzar Nicholas,
Emperor of Russia might visit the estate, an even bigger one was installed reaching 90
meters. The Tzar never made it to the house but the fountain was still named after him
Emperor Fountain. Besides canal pond where the fountain blast from, used to be a thatched
ice house this would store ice from the pond to supply the house right up to the 1920s
before the invention of refrigerators. Walking parallel with the pond slightly
uphill we passed the Blanche Vase. Blanche Georgina Howard was the
much-adored niece of the sixth Duke. She died young and the devastated Duke
placed the vase here in her memory. Heading out to the far reaches of
the estate through the wooded area we reach Ravine Bridge and Azalea Dell. This area was created in the 1930s by the sixth
Duke's wife, Evelyn and the head gardener. Taking inspiration from the
likes of Gertrude Jekyll who liked more natural wild
gardens over the formal ones. Which do you prefer? Natural and wild or formal,
let us know in the comments, we'd love to know! If you want to see the main garden
sites without all the walking then you can take the tractor train that
does a loop throughout the day. As we get closer to our house entry
time and heading back in that direction we wanted to show you the first Dukes
greenhouse. Built in the 17th century, it's actually not in its original
location, moved here by the fourth Duke. A wonderful flower display and imposing pillars greet you as you walk up the lawn to
the long, ten arched window greenhouse. Normally open for viewing, again not
available on our day due to covid. This was a very clever chair
made from 50 cent u.s coins. Behind the greenhouse is a lovely
flower meadow and a benched area to sit and people watch with a
grand house in the background. Heading into the house featuring 126 rooms,
we will tour just 26 open to the public. The Duke and Duchess live here full time and the
remaining 100 rooms are private to the family, although they do change the rooms
open for viewing from time to time. As we move through the house you'll
notice that modern art and sculptures live alongside historical decor and paintings. The chapel has not changed much over the
centuries. The first Duke prayed here daily and he commissioned artist Antonio
Verrio to oil paint the altar centrepiece. The incredible ceiling was
painted by Louis Laguerre. A Damien Hirst gold sculpture resides on the
altar but far more interesting to us was the boxwood rosary beads belonging to Henry
VIII. Made in Flanders in the early 16th century for Henry it was later purchased by
William Spencer the sixth Duke of Devonshire. The oak room was remodelled by the sixth Duke with what at the time was fashionable dark wood
panelling. A room used for men to socialize in. The tusks on either side of
the fireplace are from narwhals "the unicorns of the sea"
purchased by Edward the tenth Duke. You can see the inner court as you move through
the rooms. Appearing over the fountain is a sculpture "leaping hair on a curly bell" by
Barry Flanagan. Notice one side is more ornate with carvings and 23 and a half carat gold on
the frames. There to impress as guests arrived. Who in their right mind could fail to
be impressed with the painted hall. This was the most elaborate room built
by the first Duke between 1689 and 94. Scenes from the life of
Julius Caesar adorn the walls. The windows, arches and the painted ceilings
and walls are the only original features now. The sixth Duke renovated this room in 1840. This room and the next few were specifically
designed as staterooms for King William III and Queen Mary II, crowned in 1689. This one is to
greet guests wishing to speak to them. They never visited Chatsworth, unfortunately, to see the
rooms and the wonderful views from the window. On display is a 1665 door lock that may have
well opened the apartment of Elizabeth Cecil wife of the third Earl of Devonshire, seen here. The drawing room includes a number of
tapestries showing the ultimate wealth of the owners. They were practical to rolling
up for travel to warm up other drafty rooms. The state music room holds a very special
treasure. Make sure you look past the open doorway, the light in the room is
quite dark so hard to see on video. Here's a photograph. A violin hanging from
a door with a ribbon. This, if you have been deceived is actually a wonderful and very
clever painting by Jan van der Vaart from 1723. This painting is of Elizabeth Talbot known
as Bez of Hardwick. She built Chatsworth with Sir William Cavendish and was the
second most important person in England, after the queen, during her time. The necklace
she wears has 1000 pearls and took her many years to assemble. A symbol of her wealth.
A replica can be seen in this dark room. This is the oak stair landing featuring a plethora of family portraits through
the Cavendish generations. Looking up you and the portraits are bathed
in natural light from the glass-domed ceiling. Through the doorway in a very dark room is the
library with a collection spanning hundreds of years. Seventeen thousand books reside
here with the oldest dating from 1469. What an impressive dining room
laid out for a victorian banquet. The very first dinner in this room was in 1832
for a young Princess Victoria, later to be Queen. The host was William Spencer Cavendish
the sixth Duke. The exquisite glassware is called "cranberry glass", the imposing silver
candelabra by renowned silversmith Paul Storr. Formal dinners are still held in this room from
time to time. How we would love to be guests. The sixth Duke was a collector of sculptures
and created this room to display them. It is here that two Devonshire hunting tapestries are on loan from the Victoria & Albert to
display exactly where they hung in the 1900s. We leave the house through the gift
shop and back out into the sunshine. If during the course of the day
you are looking for food and drink then the former stables have been turned
into a lovely food court and garden shop. That's it from Chatsworth House, really hope
you've enjoyed the tour with us. The grounds and the house have been absolutely
fantastic, well worth visiting. We've got more like this on our channel, so
please remember to subscribe. Give us a like and maybe give us a comment too but thank you very
much for watching. We'll see you again next time.
