Chatsworth House (AKA Pride and Prejudice house!)

Jeremy and I have been trying to get to England since we moved to Paris.  For whatever reason, it has been hard to find the time, money, time off work, etc but we finally did it last weekend!  I was very excited, I already loved the UK without really ever being there.  We flew into Manchester, England with the intent to do some family history and some exploring!  This first pic is of the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (our second home!)...at least it's nice and you can get a pre-flight pain au chocolat!

Even when you buy a bottle of water from the convenience store in the airport, they still give you a cup because French people NEVER drink out of the bottle :)

The top thing on my list was to drive through the Peak District and go check out "Mr. Darcy's" house from Pride and Prejudice, or Chatsworth House.  By the time we got there, we were starving, so we ate at Cavendish restaurant in the converted stables.  It was lovely and I had a steak with "chips" AKA thick french fries and smashed peas.  It came with a lovely sauce and was delicious.  Jeremy had a rolled chicken with a sauce and it was also yummy!  Chatsworth House even bottles their own spring water.

Lunch stables...

Stables

Entrance to the house

Everyone remembers this staircase, right?  This is where "Elizabeth" and her aunt and uncle are starting a tour of the house "Pemberley."

It definitely had a different look and feel than a French chateau

I was very excited, I don't think Jeremy REALLY got how excited I was - Kerrin Gates would've understood, or Lauren Mosey!

The "Oak Room"

Chatsworth House at one time was used as a girl's boarding school.

The English thistle was a nice reminder to NOT sit on the chairs!

I thought the doors could've been a bit larger, but that's just me...

Servant staircase - reminded me of Downton!

Remember this sculpture?  It really did look like a veil!

That's a lot of courses...

And the sculpture gallery, without the bust of Mr. Darcy sadly

However....in the gift shop they did have the Mr. Darcy bust, I'm sure to please silly fans like me, but I was excited to see it!  The sign underneath the statue was even better!

After we toured the house we had a lot of time to explore the grounds, which are massive.

Jeremy had a few important work calls, but at least I could enjoy the view while he was on the phone!

Ok, I now proceeded to take probably entirely too many pictures, but I was just enchanted with this place!  (Feel free to scroll quickly through them!)

Oh English countryside, someday I will build a second home here!

There is the church, and there is the steeple..

Fall was the perfect time to be here, and the weather was fantastic, especially for England!

A small crop of rhubarb

100 Steps down to the maze

We made it to the middle after a while and tried to memorize the way back out...which was a lot faster!

The Rock Garden

This was the "Serpentine path" because of how they grew and trimmed the hedges.

Don't those shrubs remind you of those cartoon figures?  I don't know their name but they basically look like pastel bushes with eyes?

The autumn leaves....

Stupid, ugly art obstructing our view of the lovely Chatsworth House....like a beached whale or something...

It was better than I even imagined!!!

BAAA BYE little sheep!