Christmas at Chatsworth House 🎄
Kick starting the season of festive cheer at Mr Darcy's place.
Guess who’s back, back again?
(N.B. Nornie - you do not need to click ‘play’ on the video below).
It’s me! After too much travelling (lol, not a thing) over the last few weeks and a cold thrown in I’ve fallen behind on recapping my recent outings. But a wintery and stormy weekend has been the perfect excuse to stay inside, flick through gorgeous photos and recap on adventures!
The first recap cab off the rank is a weekend trip to the Peak District, from early November, to nosey through the Chatsworth house and gardens. One of mum’s friends gave me a tip off way back in August, via a reel on Instagram (specifically the one below), on the Chatsworth Estate and the Christmas events they put on each year, so naturally I purchased tickets for their 2024 opening day.
Also as a side note, in the 2005 movie version of Pride & Prejudice (the one featuring Keira Knightly), Chatsworth is the home (‘Pemberley’) of Mr. Darcy. There’s also suggestion that the house itself was what inspired Jane Austen’s idea of what ‘Pemberley’ should be when she was writing the novel! 😲
Getting There
Chatsworth House is in Derbyshire. Via public transport from London there are a few major stations somewhere nearby to chose from - we picked a mid-morning Saturday train from Kings Cross to Chesterfield, which is around a 1hr 45min journey.
From Chesterfield, there are busses which leave approximately each hour and stop at Chatsworth House which is around a 50min trip. Just be aware that busses do not run into the evening/night for the return journey from Chatsworth back to Chesterfield.
Alternatively in an Uber or taxi the time between Chesterfield and Chatsworth House is closer to 25mins.
Where to Stay
We stayed the Saturday night in an AirBnB room in Chesterfield, as it was close to a major train station. This was fine, but if I was to do this weekend again I would definitely stay in Bakewell (!!).
Bakewell is closer to Chatsworth House (20mins on the bus or 10mins by car) but just that little bit further from a major train station.
We actually ended up having breakfast and a wander around Bakewell on the Sunday which was gorgeous. Then spent the train journey back to London searching Booking.com and AirBnB for Bakewell accommodation for a future weekender.
Things to Do
If you want to explore the garden and house at Chatsworth House (which I definitely suggest you do if you’re making the effort to get there in the first place!) you need to pre-purchase a ticket. Ticketed entry into the house is timed, so if there is a specific time you want I’d recommended jumping on to the website as soon as the Christmas tickets are due to be released.
Chatsworth House
These people go to town at Christmas - there were approximately 178,664 Christmas trees inside amongst absolutely incredible artwork which has been displayed in the house over generations. It took around 1hr to walk through the house with lots of pausing to admire the various displays along the way.
Chatsworth Garden
During the Christmas period, there is a light display through the [massive - 105 aces massive] gardens, which includes a projected display on the house. We started wandering through the gardens at dusk so got the best of both worlds in still being able to see the gardens but also making the most of the light displays.
Christmas Markets
Outside the house and gardens, between November 9th and December 1st for 2024, there were Christmas Markets which actually did not require a ticket to access. I had low expectations for these, but as the first Christmas markets I ticked off for the year they were actually quite good!
Bakewell
We spent Sunday morning exploring Bakewell, including a delish and classic Big English Breaky at Gallery Cafe.
Followed by some ‘Bakewell Tart’, which are short-crust pastry tarts based topped with jam, frangipane and flaked almonds.
Things To Do Next Time
Although I would prefer to stay a night or two in Bakewell next time, a trip to Chesterfield would still be on the cards to visit the Church of St Mary and All Saints, specifically to see up close and climb the spire. The 69 metre spire as added on to the church around 1362 and has an insane 45 degree ‘twist’ to it which looks as insane as it sounds.