The quintessential English country home: Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England.

Chatsworth House, located about 40 miles from Manchester, England in Derbyshire of the Peak District embodies all of the elements of the grand English country home which many Americans have come to know from TV series such as Upstairs Downstairs and more recently Downton Abbey.  Chatsworth House has also been used as a site for filming such favorites as the stand in for Pemberley in the 2005 movie dramatization of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew McFadden, the made for TV movie Death Comes to Pemberley, the 2014 BBC 3 part TV series Secrets of the Manor House and many others.  Chatsworth House was mentioned by name in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice novel as a place where Elizabeth Bennett played a visit before her first visit to Pemberley.  A house of great historical significance in England, Chatsworth House is the ancestral home of the Dukes and Duchesses of Devonshire since 1694 and the home of the Cavendish family since 1549 when Bess of Hardwick convinced her husband Sir William Cavendish to sell his holdings in Suffolk and move to Derbyshire her home country.  The current residents of Chatsworth House the 12th Duke and Dutchess of Devonshire are avid collectors of modern art and represent an example of the many changes that have occurred at Chatsworth House over the centuries.  As one who has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, North and South America and Australia, Chatsworth House is one of the most amazing family homes that I have ever had the pleasure of touring.  The grandeur of the building and room themselves, the collections of paintings, sculptures, woodwork, plastering, mural and ceiling frescoes, tableware, and of course the sense of history are so astonishing as to almost overwhelm the unsuspecting visitor.  Because the house itself and the extensive gardens are so beautiful and because very nearby is an unusual and for the most part, unknown story associated with the storied American Kennedy family, I have chosen to divide my stories and photos of Chatsworth House into three parts.  The first part, this one confined to the house and it’s contents, the second to the amazing grounds and gardens and finally the third one to the Kennedy connection.  I hope that Part 1 will so capture your imagination that you will look forward to Parts 2 and 3.  If TV series such as Downton Abbey capture your imagination, I would very highly recommend a visit to Chatsworth House if and when you visit England.

Frontal view of Chatsworth House.