Sunday, February 21, 2010

Virtual Tour: (with Jane Austin) Chatsworth Estate, Darbyshire, England



Jane Austen’s description of Pemberley in the novel Pride and Prejudice is said to have been based on The Chatsworth estate in Derbyshire (pictured above). So we continue our our series of world-wide virtual tours with a visit to the peak district in northern England.

I found a special fare for only $808 round trip, but it leaves from Newark to Manchester and you'll fly back to JFK. (Maybe you have nice friend who will drop you off and pick up from the different airports).

Where will you stay? How about on the estate itself? Chatsworth has holiday cottages (7 nights for 4 people for as little as £474.00 -for the week) so you can roam the property and reread P&P.

As Lizzy says about falling in love with Mr. Darcy...

"It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley."

If you plan your trip for summer (and for your viewing pleasure) this is a wonderful slide show on flickr from a visitor who captured the grandeur of the house and some great shots of the lupines and blue poppies.

And here are some more quotes about Pemberley from Pride and Prejudice:

"Every disposition of the ground was good; and she looked on the whole scene, the river, the trees scattered on its banks, and the winding of the valley, as far as she could trace it."







"They gradually ascended for half a mile, and then found themselves at the top of a considerable eminence, where the wood ceased, and the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley, into which the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large, handsome, stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills;—and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal, nor falsely adorned. Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place where nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in her admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!"













But even visiting in the winter, the grounds are beautiful.