It's no secret I absolutely adore Jane Austen. I've read all her books, I've watched all the movies, I've visited the Jane Austen museum in Bath...and now I'm working on hitting up all the filming sites for her movies haha!
So when we planned to take our kids to England to visit friends this past summer, I knew Chatsworth House would be on the itinerary. We actually went to Chatsworth House in 2018, but it was in the middle of winter and literally the coldest day of our entire trip! I had big dreams for a "re-do" with visions of a summer picnic on the sumptuous grounds...but alas...even England in August was rainy!
But...it still was a beautiful day because...come on...how can anyone not be totally and completely bewitched by this gorgeous house that doubled as Pemberly in the 2005 Pride & Prejudice with Kiera Knightley? A few of my favorite things from the day....
Chatsworth House, nestled in the Peak District of Derbyshire, was first built in 1553 and has been an ongoing home since then. Currently the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire still live here which I thought was fascinating. While we could walk through a large portion of the home, the family's quarters were obviously off limits.
For me, it was really fun to see the interiors as they looked in Pride & Prejudice. Remember when Elizabeth walks through the gallery with all those marble statues? Well, we got to walk through there as well! The bust of Mr. Darcy actually resides in the gift shop, with a big sign that reads "do not kiss!" haha! I think too many of us Austen enthusiast have tried to smooch the bust so they needed a sign ha!
I will say that I've never wanted to buy more useless souvenirs than in this gift shop! All things British! All things Austen! It was a total dream! Alas, I just came away with a few fun items:)
Like many places in England, it was extremely kids friendly. Chatsworth has a HUGE playground on it, a whole petting zoo area with tons of animals to see and observe, and fun activities for the kids. A very fun family outing!
Make sure to buy your tickets in advance as it's hard to get tickets the day of. It goes by a time slot, so you can come when your time slot is open. I took Avonlea and my friend Kate took her oldest son, and then after we explored the house, we met up with our husbands and the rest of our children. It was quite a bit cheaper this way (and I'm pretty sure a 1 and 3 year old boy would never remember this haha!).
The first time we went it was so cold that we didn't explore the grounds at all (I'm talking like 20 degrees and crazy fast winds. I could barely stand outside for 1 minutes without losing it haha!). So, this time we decided to explore the grounds and WOW, they are stunning...don't miss them!
They do have a cafe there and seating so you could buy food, however we opted to pack food and have a picnic which was fun!
As a side note, the drive to Chatsworth is beautiful. The little town of Bakewell is quite close, so if you're looking for something fun to do in the area, pop in and grab yourself the famous Bakewell tart! I even found a gluten free one!
If you're an Austen fan, don't miss Chatsworth House!
The drive to Chatsworth is so gorgeous. The top and bottom picture I took from our car as we drove along. Such quintessential English countryside:)
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