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Another delicious breakfast before taking off through the Peak District National Park to visit Chatsworth House - the home of the Duke of Devonshire and the Cavendish family for 16 generations.
I continue to be perplexed by the hereditary peerage - a distant relative in times gone by is rewarded for good works or good connections and generations later are celebrated and rewarded? However, homes like this would not exist if the dukedom had never been in place...
This was an outstanding piece of real estate. It made every palace or other regal building we'd seen so far seem like minor imitations. The building was at least four times larger and grander than I expected. Every room I visited was greeted with a "wow".
Luckily we got there early and were first in, beating the hordes of tourists. After walking up the oak lined drive we entered the building where nothing was less than magnificent. Leather lined walls, acres of art works, slathers of silverware with carved wood and painted ceilings at every turn. There was just too much to take in.
Outside there were the 105 acres of gardens, fountains and other such outdoor decorations. The stables looked like an enormous house in themselves. The money, the excess, the beauty!
It was easy to imagine Pride and Prejudice in this location along with "The Duchess", Georgiana Spencer, the 17 year old bride of the 5th Duke. The grounds of rolling greens hills dotted with sheep and trees stretched to the horizon. A place I'd love to visit again as there was no way to take it all in within such a short visit.
I left the house wishing I could've spent more time there, but I will just have to return some day. Besides we had over four hours drive to our next overnight destination.
After roughly two hours driving (during which time it was reinforced that the English only seem to use the indicator as an occasional device for communication) we stopped in Stratford on Avon. We briefly visited the historic cottage of Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, before returning to the highway bound for our final destination, Southampton.
At the hotel we met up with Jenny and Peter Keyes as pre-arranged and with the help of the hotel reception ventured to "The Dancing Man". This was a local pub/brewery housed in a woollen store from the 14th century along the docks. We had a great night! Jenny and Peter were off on a cruise to New York on the Queen Mary on Thursday while we are off to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. My heart beats so fast in anticipation...well, maybe Anthony's! I think I will find something else to do.
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