We were in England for the Pavarotti concert that was not going to happen.  It unfortunately had been cancelled a few days before and we hadn't been able to change our plans.  The concert would have been held this evening.  Instead we decided to spend the day at the famous English manor, Chatsworth House, that the concert would have been held at.

If you really aren't interested in seeing pictures of the English countryside and an old huge country mansion, just skip this post.  I really fell in love with the countryside and the gardens at Chatsworth but I'll be posting a ton of pictures and I'd hate you to fall off your chair from falling asleep.

It took about 20 minutes for us to drive from our B&B in Matlock Bath to Chatsworth and it truly was a beautiful drive.





The estate covers 35,000 acres and has a 1,000 acre park that surrounds it that is always open to the public.  There are thousands of sheep freely grazing in every direction.





The house itself is really huge, more like a castle and quite stately when first seen coming up the long road.  The property is owned by The Duke of Devonshire, whose family has owned the property for hundreds of years.





We passed the stage area where the Pavarotti concert would have been.  Oh well!



We were early and there weren't too many people on the grounds yet so parking was easy and we made our way up to the nearest building which happened to be the former stables.







We decided to tour the garden first since the weather seemed to be somewhat nice and knowing it could easily change for the worse.





The gardens where gorgeous, although I suppose if I had a full staff at my disposal I'd have gorgeous grounds too.





I took enough pictures of all the beautiful flowers with my new macro lens that I decided to just create a new gallery called The Eye of Nature.  I've just posted a few below to give you a taste...







There were a few chickens scratching around...



and THAT is what I call a big butt...



This is Chatsworth house as viewed from the gardens...



The beautiful cascading fountain is 300 years old, has 24 steps and falls down 200 yards.





We came upon a section of amazingly huge leaved plants.  I almost thought I was in a rainforest or jungle.





We would wander from one type of garden into another seamlessly.  It was really magical.









This lily pond was spectacular and full of bloom.





This path led alongside one of the larger "ponds".



There were a lot of little duckies but I was only able to get this curious one to stop long enough to take his picture...



Everywhere you looked; it was simply splendor and beauty.  These are the same grounds that the film "Pride and Prejudice" was filmed on.







We visited the "farm" area (I take every chance I can get to mingle with animals) and I saw the largest grouping of guinea pigs I've ever seen.



I figured out why.  At certain times during the day they allow the kids in with the guinea pigs and had a big ole guinea pig holding party.



This little donkey was pretty cute and all he wanted was to be petted by everyone.



After our animal mingling we headed towards the main house to tour the inside.



It was as impressive as I expected it to be.  Well, maybe just a tad more than that.







I can see why the family turned it into a museum.  First of all try getting everyone to agree to get rid of all the old stuff/antiques, and then try buying new furniture for the entire place!  They would need to really raise the entrance fees.



I will admit I love this dining room table.  Oh, just you wait till I have my own home and I have the loooonnnnnggggg table I've been drooling over.  Keith knows we will sit at seperate ends and constantly get up to pass each other a plate or fill a glass of wine.



One of the rooms is full of sculptures the family collected from around the world.  I really liked this benevolent lion.



And that concluded our tour of the Chatsworth house!



Of course I couldn't help but take just a few more pictures of the beautiful estate on our drive out...



I love this, notice what the sign says and then the car you can see all the way to the right?   Your first reaction would be to blame it on a tourist but if you really think about it you have to realize it could only be a local to be so brazen.



That night Keith was determined to have his fish and chips so we hit a local fast food place just before they closed (at 8:30 p.m.!).



Someone is very happy with their greasy food!



This sauce was hilarious...



Later at the bar I couldn't help but notice this next to me...



Got it!

We mingled with the locals and somehow I ended up getting this beer with some fruity syrup added.  Nice, but a bit too sweet to have a whole glass.

And that was our trip to England!  Time to get back to Italy for the World Cup final game!

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