To Chatsworth today with Barbara & Ian. On the way, we stopped at the Chatsworth Farm Shop - my goodness, what a seletion of goodies! The meat section was phenomenol, with such things as wild boar, venison, wild rabbit, pheasant, as well as the more normal meats, all of which looked good enough to eat raw! Barbara and Ian bought half a lamb but Ron and I settled for just buying pumpkin to introduce the to pumpkin soup! The range of vegetables (all grown, as was the meat, on the estate) was superb as were the cheeses, breads, preserves and cakes, a veritable gourmet's delight.
Also on the way, we passed Chesterfield where the claim to fame is the church's twisted spire - and it really is twisted, due to ground movement. Apparently it has become such a tourist attraction that the powers that be daren't try to straighten it!
Once we reached the grounds of the house, we had a lovely picnic and then meandered along the side of the River Derwent to the house, which has been the seat of the Dukes of Devonshir for hundreds of years (their family name is Cavendish and they own a fair slice of Londong). Queen Victoria had her first grown-up meal at Chatsworth and it is a very imposing building. We didn't actually go into the house itself but contented ourselves with wandering around outside and visiting the magnificent stables which now house the gift shop and restaurant. All around were sheep, a really rural scene. There were also anglers fly-fishing for salmon and trout - idyllic! The present day Spencers (i.e. Princess Diana's family) are amongst the descendents of one of the former dukes and Kathleen, sister of J F Kennedy, was married to William who was killed during the war (she, too, was killed a short while later).
