Chatsworth Stags

As it's being snowing, we decided to drive out into the Peak District today to see what it looked like. The view from the top of Hathersage was amazing:


And we even saw a very ugly pig, snuffling around in the snow. I thought it was ugly, Stuart had a conversation with it.


The snow was very localised, not much at all as we went out towards Castleton, so we went over to Chatsworth where there was a lot more. Loads of sledging just as you get into the park opposite Ednesor, and as we drove through the park, we saw the deer. Very close to the road - they looked magnificent.




And on the way back we stopped at the Devonshire Arms in Baslow for lunch.  You can't beat a good beef sandwich and chips!

Chatsworh Country Fair and Sculptures

I've just realised that we've been to Chatsworth 3 times in the last 6 days. I love Chatsworth - we're "gold friends" aka season ticket holders and I go as often as I can. I particularly like that it's still owned by a family - not been given to the National Trust  - and they've worked very hard to make it pay its way. Hit by enormous death duties, which took 17 years to pay off, it's now a thriving business, (actually a charitable trust), and a huge employer in the region.

Last weekend was the Country Fair - an enormous event, and we get tickets for two days as part of our membership, so I get to go twice. Each day opens with an amazing parachute display

There's then a whole programme of entertainment, including falconry displays which I love. One of the birds landed very close to us:

And one very stupid one got stuck on the wrong side of the fence trying to get some food

But one of our favourite things to do is go round the food village. Loads of stalls, each giving away free samples. This year the favourite seemed to be flavoured vodka and liquers. Of course it would have been rude not to try them, and by about 1130 we were all a little tipsy. Soon sobered up by a small shot of naga chillis in vodka. One day I might get the feeling back in my tongue...  Of course there was cheese, bread, cake, chocolate and loads of other things to taste, but we still managed a hot pork sandwich and a pint for lunch!

There's always something a little out of the ordinary, and this year it was the dancing diggers - JCBs to be precise. Strange but true.



However, the stars of the show are always the Red Arrows. Amazing. Could watch them all day.

Then last night we went to the opening evening of Beyond Limits, the annual sculpture exhibition in the grounds. Think its fair to day that some I loved, some I didn't!  All these pictures are of ones I loved, especially the last one.

Definitely worth a visit.

Testing.....

I use Twitterfeed to post my blogs to Facebook and Twitter, and just recently it's been playing up. Done some tweaks and this is a bit of a test post to see if it works. So, here's a picture of the Great Hall at Chatsworth I managed to take on preview day, without anyone else in view. Pretty impressive ceiling!

And there was a rather nice display of botanical paintings:

One last picture, we were allowed up the tower, where you get a view of some of the gardens that aren't normally open to the public:

OK, off to test if this has worked...

Wet Horse Trials

This weekend its the International Horse Trials at Chatsworth, and yesterday we went for the day. Last year's was cancelled because of the bad weather, and I suspect they were hoping for a nice hot weekend this year. Well, thy didn't get it. When we got there it was freezing. And then it started to rain. Having watched Eddie Izzard do a hilarious routine about dressage on Friday night (think trying to reverse a horse into a cupboard), I wanted to see some, but it really was very wet!

We managed to get very close to the falconry display, but the Barn Owl was very bedraggled, and didn't feel much like flying.

One of the harris hawks flew into a nearby tree, which was slightly confusing to her as she was a young one, and had never been in a tree before:

Luckily, she was hungry enough to fly down to the bits of baby chick being offered to her.

It was a shame about the rain, but we wandered round the trade stalls, craft tents, and food stalls, and just as we were leaving the sun came out, so we went down to the water jump (usually known as Queen Mary's Bower) to watch some of the cross country event. This is much more exciting I think.

Enjoyable day, despite the weather. I did feel I was lacking three things though. Brown wellies, a barbour jacket, and a dog.

Pantomine Chatsworth

Quick trip to Chatsworth yesterday to see the house decorated for Christmas - this year the theme is pantomime, so we had Puss in Boots

 and all the old favourites. As usual, the House looked beautiful. Different trees and displays in all of the rooms. There was even a beanstalk growing into the roof

The chapel has recently had a Damian Hirst sculpture installed, which I really don't like, so I was pleased to see it partly hidden!

There was a snow queen scene in the library

But as usual my favourite room was the dining room, which this time was set up to look like a scene from Hansel and Gretel, the gingerbread cottage.

And no trip out there would be complete without a visit to the farm shop at Christmas, where I spend far too much money on lovely food!

Elemental Force

I love Chatsworth House, and we have friends season tickets so can go whenever we want. A couple of weeks ago we got invited to a free event for friends - something called Elemental Force.  Tickets were limited and went very quickly. So, we turned up at 6pm, and were directed on to the lawn which had been transformed by fire sculptures

All powered by gas, they were quite  impressive. Then the main show started. The house was lit up,

music played, and then the story of the Industrial Revolution was projected on the house. It was spectacular.

and made really good use of pyrotechnics. at one point (virtual) chimneys rose out of the ground and when they reached the top of the house smoke and fire came out of them. A crane lowered a huge wheel which had an acrobat in who spun dizzily round, and the whole thing finished with a great firework display.

Go and see it if you get a chance. Details of where else its happening are here

Chatsworth

Lovely day at Chatsworth on Saturday on preview day. House looking fab after its clean, and all of the gold window frames were sparkling in the sun. I thought about having our hall ceiling painted like this one, but decided it was perhaps a little OTT.

I took quite a few pictures of the interior, hoping to use them as inspiration when I decorate my dolls house (more on that later). Not sure I'm going to be up to this though.

Nice walk through some of the grounds, and we caught a glimpse of the Antony Caro Exhibition which opens next week. I have to admit, I'm no fan. Looks like someone has left a load of scrap metal on the grass. This is one of the better ones.

Much perfer the willow sculptures which are all around the kitchen garden by Laura Ellen Bacon.

Then we went to the farm shop, where I spent far too much money on nice food!

Fireworks, bonfires and a long journey

I love fireworks, the bigger the better, and I particularly like setting them off. I even hitched my wedding dress up and let them off at our wedding. I was really lucky this weekend to get invited to a firework party, and to go to a big bonfire. 30 years ago on bonfire night two good friends of ours moved to Sheffield, bringing with them a carefully wrapped rocket to set off when they got here. So, on bonfire night 30 years later they had a celebration, asking everyone to bring a firework or rocket. The food was excellent, the company great fun, and I got to help set the huge amount of rockets and fireworks off. Luckily they have a big garden. But it does have a number of very mature trees through which we tried to angle the rockets. We only failed on three occasions and they either came crashing back to earth or blew up in the tree. Luckily no damage was done, although we did run, jump and swear a couple of times.

Then on Saturday we went to Chatsworth bonfire. Some friends who live nearby invited to eat there first, so didn't have far to drive, but the traffic was horrendous when we got close. We decide to park by the estate house and walk through the park to the house. Very exciting in the pitch dark, and made even more so by our encounter with a herd of deer, with the stags' antlers silhouetted on the skyline. The bonfire was huge, and I didn't get burned this year - last year a spark landed on me and burnt through 3 layers of clothing and I only realised when my bra started smouldering.

We queued for ages for a glass of mulled wine, and decided next year we'd take our own, but that was made up for by the firework display which was fantastic. Some great ones that landed and burnt on the lake, and others which had small parachute type sparks floating down.

Then home to finish packing, and up early on Sunday morning to drive to Heathrow. We always try and get away in the autumn, usually to either Tenerife or the Balearic Islands, but this year when we booked the apartment for November, I hadn't realised that many airlines had stopped flying at the end of October. I couldn't find a single direct flight to Menorca. The only option was to drive to Heathrow, fly to Madrid and then to Mahon. Now, I don't like flying. I especially don't like taking off, and turbulence just makes me think I'm going to die. So, I wasn't too happy that I had to take off twice, and both flights were very bumpy. The first one had the captain tell us not to worry, and the second one was such a small plane I thought it was going to fall to pieces. It also dropped several times. Good job it was Stu sitting next to me as I tend to grab the person next to me, no matter who they are. I once spent a whole flight from Belfast to Sheffield grasping the knee of the random man sitting next to me. Anyway, we got here. Picked up the car and drove the 30 minutes to the airport, in the rain! Reception was closed because it was gone 2300 when we got here so we had to phone the emergency receptionist to let us in. Luckily we'd had the foresight to pick up a couple of bottles of duty free so could at least have a quick drink before bed, together with a couple of fried eggs on toast which was the only thing we'd eaten all day except for a couple of airline sandwiches.

Beyond Limits in the rain

Sunday was the only rainy day of the weekend, and we decided to go to Chatsworth with some friends. Two reasons -it was a day when season ticket holders could bring a friend in for free, and we wanted to see the Beyond Limits sculpture exhibition in the gardens. Despite the rain we had a great time, and bought season tickets while we were there, so can go back anytime during the year. We got fairly wet walking round the gardens, but it was worth it. The sculptures ranged from pots and pans in the Orangery:

to some hares by one of my favourite sculptors, Barry Flanagan:

Despite the rain, the colours in the gardens are lovely at this time of year.

and we took the chance to look at some of the artworks that are there all year, and not part of the exhibition, such as the willow woven inside a yew tree.

If you've been to Chatsworth before you'll know that there's a fantastic cascade in the grounds, and for the exhibition, it has some contemporary chinese warriors on it. They were great, and made me smile a lot. Looked really cheeky.

The other water features, including the Emperor Fountain also had sculptures near them, but it was getting rather wet by then! All of the water features are gravity fed - no engines - from reservoirs at the top of the hills. A great place to walk if you get the chance.

My favourite sculpture was called Visitor by David Breur-Weil. It was great, you were almost on it before you noticed it, and so atmospheric in the rain.

Came home very muddy and damp, but worth it.