Painted Hall and Sculpture Gallery
Laguerre's 1694 ceiling greets you at the start, and some 170 marbles under natural light close the route as the finest room in the house.
Rprof — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kidozh — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tom Parnell from Scottish Borders, Scotland — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aethonatic — CC0
On the bank of the River Derwent, in a deer park of roughly a thousand acres, stands a house the same family has lived in since 1549. That is what sets Chatsworth apart from most English country houses that have become museums: the present Duke of Devonshire and his wife live in one wing, the paintings on the walls are still being bought and swapped around, and a contemporary piece can hang a room away from a Rembrandt. Mary, Queen of Scots was held here in the 1570s, when the owners were her appointed keepers. About thirty of the 126 rooms are open. The route starts in the Painted Hall, whose ceiling and walls Louis Laguerre covered in 1694 with scenes from the life of Julius Caesar, climbs to the State Apartments on the upper floor, and ends in the Sculpture Gallery: some 170 neoclassical marbles under natural light, and frankly the finest room in the house. There are many old staircases; pushchairs do not go inside and are left at the entrance, where baby carriers are offered instead. Allow an hour and a half indoors. The garden alone justifies the drive, and if time or budget is tight the £20 garden ticket is a perfectly sensible choice. It covers 105 acres and includes the baroque Cascade, 24 stone steps the water has tumbled down since the 1690s, each cut with a different texture so it makes a different sound from the last. Then there is the Emperor Fountain, built in 1843 for a visit by the Russian Tsar that never happened; it reached 90 metres in its day and now runs far lower. The farmyard and adventure playground are included in the ticket and will send children home happy even if the house left them cold. The outer deer park is free all year, no ticket needed. A house-and-garden ticket is £35 for adults and £12 for children aged 3 to 16, with under-3s free; the garden on its own is £20. Book online in advance and parking is free for one car per booking, against £7.50 to £10 at the gate depending on the season. The house runs from around the middle of March to early January and then shuts for the rest of winter; hours are 10:30 to 16:30 for the house and until 17:00 for the garden. Summer weekends and the Christmas season (7 November to 3 January, when the house is dressed to a different theme each year and the adult ticket rises to £40) are the busiest times. Realistically you come by car: 15 to 20 minutes from Bakewell via the A6 then B6012, about half an hour from Chesterfield, 40 minutes from Sheffield and an hour and a quarter from Manchester. The stables complex has a restaurant, cafe and shop; there is no dedicated prayer room, but the vast garden offers quiet corners.
Laguerre's 1694 ceiling greets you at the start, and some 170 marbles under natural light close the route as the finest room in the house.
Water has run down 24 stone steps since the 1690s, beside a fountain built for a Russian Tsar who never turned up.
Included in every ticket, they turn the stately home into a full family day that keeps children happy even when the rooms bore them.
Chatsworth, Bakewell, Derbyshire DE45 1PP
With children under eight or on a short wet day, stick to the £20 garden and farmyard ticket; the house is all staircases and pushchairs stay outside. If you have four hours or more, pay the difference: the Sculpture Gallery and Painted Hall alone earn it.
Yes, until 3 January, but that is the Christmas season: the house is dressed to a new theme each year, the adult ticket is £40 and booking ahead is compulsory because dates sell out. After that the house and garden close until the new season opens in March, and only the free outer park stays open.