Although my love affair with Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is continuous (and well-documented), my visits can sometimes be a bit like buses. I won’t visit Chatsworth for weeks on end and then suddenly I’ll cram a multitude of events into a small time frame.
It’s been a bit like that recently. I’ve not visited for quite some time and then suddenly had two trips out here in very quick succession.
The first was for their Florabundance event, which saw the house transformed by floral arrangements provided by Jonathan Moseley. I’ve seen this event advertised before but never actually taken the time to visit until this year. For a change, we decided to leave the children with my mum to allow us to have a proper look around. Bug could set a world record for the speed which she runs around that house!
The house looked spectacular:
I’m certainly no expert when it comes to flowers (hayfever put a stop to any interest I may have in that field) so instead of doing a lot of descriptions of the different flowers (which I probably don’t know the names of), I’m going to let a mass of photos speak for themselves. Even though they probably don’t do justice to these amazing floral pieces.
When reading the description of the day, I had anticipated that the house would be full to bursting with floral arrangements. In actual fact, there were far fewer pieces than I had expected. On closer examination you realised that the placement and selection of the arrangements, although subtle, were actually cleverly and thoughtfully planned to compliment each room of the house
Each arrangement had been carefully designed to match the colour scheme or style of the room it was in. In some cases, the flowers even seemed to be a continuation of the artwork or sculptures that they surrounded.
But anyway, that’s quite enough of me pretending to know what I’m talking about. After having a lovely, leisurely stroll around the house (and then the shop!), we decided to treat ourselves to an adults-only afternoon tea, where I wouldn’t have to fight for a piece of scone, or try and keep Bug away from the sugar lumps!
The second Chatsworth event, just one week later was the Friends of Chatsworth garden party. This is always one of my favourite evenings of the year as it is an exclusive party in the gardens of Chatsworth for Friends of Chatsworth and their guests.
I’ve been every year for the past 3/4 years (I’m starting to lose count!). We take a lovely picnic and some camping furniture and lounge around in this stunning environment, listening to a live band and having a good time.
Sadly the weather this year wasn’t amazing but we did only have one proper rain shower. Most of us took cover in the gift shop while my brother-in-law sacrificed himself to stand by the picnic table with a golf umbrella, trying to keep everything dry. Thankfully it did clear up pretty quickly after that and we did get to see this beautiful double rainbow!
As the evening came to an end we were treated to a particularly amazing firework extravaganza which was, in Bugs words, “awesome’. (Please excuse the fuzzy photos – my phone is in no way equipped to deal with this kind of photography). Then it was time to pack up and take two very tired girlies home to bed.
I’m not sure when our next trip to Chatsworth House will be. I don’t have any plans in the near future, but I’m sure there will be plenty more trips to come. My love of Chatsworth is far from over!
Do you have a particular place you love to visit? Somewhere that holds a special place in your heart? Share your stories in the comments below.