We drove up on Friday night and the M25 and M1 are always horrendous at that time of day so it took us over 4 and half hours before arriving at our airbnb around 10pm. The postcode was for the general area which we didn't realise until Google Maps had us up a country lane in the pitch black with no obvious signs of our accommodation. We also had no signal but it didn't take too much driving around to find where we were supposed to be. Mel had found us a lovely little cottage on a farm and the host had kindly put the heating on for us which meant a cosy place to come into after a long drive.
Saturday morning saw the sun come up over the Derbyshire dales and we got ourselves on the road to Chatsworth in plenty of time. We couldn't stop the fangirling as we came over the rise and saw the house at the top of the valley (it features as Pemberly in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice film). The house is rather incredible and was beautifully decked out for Christmas. Each set of rooms was decorated with a Christmas theme from countries around the world associated with the different Cavendish Dukes who have lived there. We were most impressed with the library and I would definitely have loved to just curl up in there with a good book! After lunch in the cafe we went for a wander around the grounds, got very lost in the maze, and were pleased to see the sun reappear for awhile.
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| Library |
We had hoped to see the Christmas market at Chatsworth but got our dates wrong and it had finished the week before! So we headed over to the little town of Bakewell (famous for it's tarts) and had a very pleasing look around the shops there before heading back to the cottage. On the way, on a narrow stretch of road, a car passing us did a little wiggle and the back of their car hit my driver side wing mirror smashing the glass. It made a terrible noise and gave me quite a fright too! Thankfully not too much damage to get fixed now that we are back home. We had dinner in the local pub which was delightful and then watched Nativity! which was very British and thoroughly enjoyable.
On Sunday we had a lie in, made pancakes, I said hello to the horses, and then headed for the village of Matlock and their Christmas market. On the way we stopped for a little walk in the sunshine but it was freezing! We had a very good look around all the stalls at the market though there were a lot of people and moving was tricky at times. It was nice to get some Christmas shopping done and enjoy that festive atmosphere. We left early afternoon and made it back to Guildford in time for dinner!
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| Esther, Mel, me |
So, a really lovely weekend away with my wonderful flatmates and a good chance to take a breather from school. Only two weeks to go until Christmas break!
What a pleasurable event reading your Christmas letter. You sound as if the joys of an English Christmas and winter are exhilarating, which is always a positive way to enter the end of school term.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Jane Austen fan, the description of "Pemberly" was enjoyable. I can't say I found Pemberly as gripping as some of her other novels. It didn't really hold together as Pride and Prejudice did or as Emma. I always felt characterisation was Jane Austen's skill. At one time I would reread all six of the books over each year with so much pleasure. Life is busier now and that doesn't happen so regularly.
Ian has been sharing tales of tramping with Phillip and Clair with pleasure. Perhaps the time at Luxmore Hut took the prize - what a way to spend a week. They clearly enjoyed themselves. We also have contact with Matthew through them and are pleased that his job seems to have settled down.
For us this has been a year of medical issues which, thankfully, have now settled into quiet day-to day living.
We like to keep up with your activities so thank you for your blog. Have a Happy Christmas and Blessed New Year.
Thanks so much for being in touch and reading the blog! It certainly has been a year of ups and downs, I am glad things are settling down for you. All the best for the new year!
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