This is part of the Friendly Friday photo challange which can be found this week on;
I used to go on a lot of day trips. The good thing about the UK and most of Europe is that they are full of old , castles, houses and gardens as well as sites of historical interest. One place that become particularly special to me was Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. (Like Downtown abbey but bigger. ) It became a place of solace in otherwise difficult times. Despite being the next county it felt like a different world entirely, a reminder of a bygone era when the world was very different. It also took two trains and a bus to get there which made it seem much further away than it actually is. All these pictures were taken only my last day trip here in November 2016.
The house was started about 1553 but has been changed many time over the centuries and was former home to the Dukes of devonshire. They were once so rich they owned several thousand acres of land but also properties all over the country including a castle in Ireland, Bolton Abbey, Hardwick House and properties in London.
The near by village of Edensor, (pronounced Enzor). Build for estate workers, the church not only has graves of former dukes but also the sister of JFK who was engaged to a former heir, (just like in Downton abbey it was once a craze for rich American women to marry into British aristocracy. ) JFK visited here in 1963 not long before his death.
There are numerous deer here. Fallow and red deer herds. Most of the large country estates used to have deer to hunt, only for the rich of course and the ladies would often sit inside the tower on the nearby hillside as the men when off hunting on horses. They also used to shoot birds such as grouse and pheasants.
There is a Christmas market here every year and they also decorate the house in festive manner. As well as that there is an annual flower show,country fair, horse trials and many other events over the course the year. In fact the house is only closed from Christmas until easter which is unsually busy for such places. It has always welcomed visitors and this was written in 1844 . “The Duke of Devonshire allows all persons whatsoever to see the mansion and grounds every day of the year. Sundays not excepted, from 10 in the morning ’til 5 in the afternoon. The humblest individual is not only shown the whole, but the Duke has expressly ordered the waterworks to be played to everyone without exception. This is acting in the true spirit of great wealth and enlightened liberality; let us add also, the spirit of wisdom.”
Death by Shyness 
Fantastic photos, Klodo. The deer and the autumnal foliage are really spectacular! Interesting facts about the village of Edensor – it must have a Viking history as it is pronounced in a Danish way! Fancy American women marrying into the British aristocracy. Was that started by Wallis Simpson?
Thanks,
No, I think it was well before that. Churchill’s mother was American so it may have gone well back into the mid to late 1800’s. The former heir to chatsworth died in WW2 so she just married another rich English heir! Unfortunately their plane crashed and killed them both. I always wondered why she was still buried at Chatsworth.
I think we forget how much of England was under Viking control. Half the country including my own city was once under Danelaw. There is a Viking museum in York.
So you are an old Viking too!
Its probably in here somewhere. I quite like genealogy. I think the Normans where mostly Scandinavian and supposedly one of my mothers ancestors married a Marshall who is a direct link to the first marshall of England who came over in 1066. Do you know much about your ancestors and where they came from? I have enjoyed watching the Vikings TV show recently!
Oh yes I do know that I have Viking ancestry. The earliest recorded ancestor is around 1550. I wrote a little about my adventures in this realm here: https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/family-history/
Fascinating especially as you were able to go back to the same village of your ancestors and walk in their shadow. I bet that felt emotional. I went to the village of my GG grandparents on my dads side a few years back but it only goes back to about 1800. I would love to trace my ancestors all the way back into mainland Europe.
There are loads of resources online and you are in the places where you can more easily visit the local archives to find out more. It is a fascinating hobby. I also like to find out what the social lives of the time were like. The people behind the names and dates. It gives us a glimpse backward in time! I found Myheritage particularly useful and Ancestry has free trial versions you can source for info.
Thanks, I use https://www.familysearch.org as its free and lets you make a family tree. Also https://www.rootschat.com which is a forum. Someone on there sent me a list of everyone of my fathers ancestors living in the village from the 1841 census. I have found 14 of my 16 GG grandparents surnames so far.
That is excellent. I lot of the hard work is done for you. But be sure to check. I have found a few errors in Family Search from folks inputting data wrongly. I suppose all the programs are vulnerable to this type of problem.
Yes, its almost impossible to know if people are accurate or not without seeing the records yourself. I have already come across a couple of discrepancies.
Oh, fascinating! Lovely light and that pheasant shot! ❤ Thank you very much for your entry.
Thanks Manja