Following my lovely day trip to Flamborough Head I wrote up in my blog My day trip to the Yorkshire coast and how it empowered me I booked in another day trip to a place I have driven past numerous times but never found the time to pop in – Chatsworth House! I knew this place was going to be perfect for some self-care and me time.
For starters this estate is just soaked in history and has been handed down by 16 generations of the Cavindish families and is still a family home, working farm and what I call a live outdoors. Nowadays it is run by the Chatsworth House Trust and all pennies go to this for their skills of preserving the home, collections, gardens and grounds; even the 12th Duke and Duchess (Peregrine and Amanda) pay rent to live there to this trust.
You could literately spend hours reading about the history on the website but that’s boring so let’s get straight into my visit and what I’ve learnt, I mean anybody who has driven past I’m sure will recognise this image I found online by Graham Durham?

From Lincoln to the Peak District
So from Lincoln it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes and I started by driving onto the A57 which isn’t a bad road really and has been upgraded a bit recently. As usual my music was on and I was getting excited as the sun was shining. I could start to see the countryside ahead of me and all the green landscape and smell of lovely fresh air – almost as good as the oils when making bath bombs!
As I got closer I realised I had forgot about the Peak District in general, how? Chatsworth House is located inside the Peak District and as I moved onto the A617 through Chesterfield it dawned on me how amazing this day trip was going to be. I could see the Peak District clearly now and at one point I had to do a super steep dip as I was entering that simply did not have enough space for two cars – what the actual? I was terrified. But I have to say this one was a fairly straight ride West from Lincoln to Bakewell in the Peak District where Chatsworth House is and barely no traffic.
The actual Chatsworth House
Well, as you approach in the car you feel like you’re going back in time to something like Downton Abbey because the sheer scale of the land (1,822 acres) hits you and the house positioned next to a small river is just stunning. I really had to focus driving because I couldn’t take my eyes off the place in the sun. I could see lots of people out walking and I could imagine this would be even more beautiful from afar on the hills.
There is usually two entrances but only one was open during my visit so I had to detour slightly to the the front ones to get in. Parking was included in the ticket (thank god if you’ve read my last blog to Flaborough Head as I never have cash!) and it was ÂŁ23 to walk around the inside of the house and also the gardens. You can buy either the house or gardens separately though.
The car parking is right next to the garden and house entrance and as soon as you step out the fresh air immediately just washed away any tension or anxiety – perfect! So off I trot and I then thought, where is the entrance? Typical me just could not fathom out due to the size where it was, so I asked the ticket checker (obviously not his real name 🤣) and he said “it’s right in front of you” – oh alright smarty pants!
Anyway, back to my story – I bounced on over to the entrance gates and this young lady who works there said “how big is your back pack?” I was like – erm that’s a new one! Back pack size? Ha ha. She said well you can either carry in front of your chest spun around or hold it by your side. I said why? Apparently it is so people don’t knock or damage things inside the house. Well…I’ve heard it all now.
As you walk up to the building it really does have a grand sense of style, even as you enter the house and start to soak in the rich detail and history of all the collections inside, you get a real sense of perspective of time. For some odd reason I was wondering to myself what on earth am I doing with mine? Don’t worry I won’t go there in this blog but this was the start of me reflecting and getting ready to be rejuvenated!
I took so many pictures I thought the easiest way to share these with you is to create a scrollable carousel below. So you can flick through, I really don’t need any more words for how incredible this place is. Just scroll through…
The Gardens
How are you feeling after scrolling through the house pics? Amazing place isn’t it and when you leave the house you exit directly into the gardens! The fresh air and smell of all the flowers hits you again and I felt refreshed. Within the house you could see out of the windows into the gardens and I was getting excited to get out there anyway.
The surprising bit for me was how enclosed and perfectly laid out the gardens are, I worked my way up towards the flower beds and greenhouse and then took a right up the middle section of the hill towards the beautiful Cascade Waterfall. I was very lucky as the sun at this point was shining and the sounds of the waterfall made me feel relaxed. I just slowwwllly…walked around, took some selfies and enjoyed the space. All the pictures all below in the carousel to scroll through.
Once I had taken in this section I moved across to the the rockery, again I was just blown away – the layout and design of the whole interconnected garden to each section feels lovely. I was able to climb up to a viewing point and take some fantastic pictures of the whole area and see the maze!
Although the maze was small and compact it was nice to walk around and there was a small arch you can walk up to and take a picture from above which adds a new perspective. This section led onto the end of the large Canal Pond and Great Fountain, the fountain is massive and the long lake feels very grand when standing at the bottom as you exit the maze area. Again I can add no more words so scroll through the pictures below…
NOW I’m feeling rejuvenated
As you walk around the pond and fountain you get quite close to it and all of a sudden the wind turned and sprayed water all over me! At first it was gross because I’m a bit funny like that, but then it dawned on me that I sort of felt cleansed ha ha. I felt rejuvenated, almost full of beans and younger! The whole experience I knew was coming to an end and I enjoyed it a lot.
It took me about 2 hours to get around the whole area but you could spend all day here, maybe have a small picnic and enjoy the inside of the gardens. Equally, as you exit the gardens back into the car pack you realise the whole outside and land is also free to explore with lakes, arches and forests. You could come back here time and time again.
I hope the pictures and blog has been enjoyable to read and it motivates you to plan your next day trip. We have so many great things to do in the UK and so much history that we often over look this and just tend to go on beach holidays. I would mix it up a bit, plus it can be cheaper as a lot of places in the UK are often free to visit. Before you head off as always please don’t forget to check out my handmade bath bombs in the Shop and thank you for your support.