On 10th August, I went to Pemberly!
Well, I couldn’t resist that! More accurately, we, that is, my sister-in-law and I, went to Chatsworth in Derbyshire, which is the seat of the Duke of Devonshire. Why the Duke of Devonshire should reside is Derbyshire is a logical question. I, unfortunately, have no answer apart from pointing out that he’s English! (Of course, you might want to look up Wikipedia for more information. I could have added the URL, but I won’t because they have better photos than I do!)
Though I’d always wanted to see an English stately home, I’d never imagined it would be so… big and opulent! And the estate is HUGE! Chatsworth House, incidently, is also where parts of the film Pride and Prejudice were filmed—and I must confess to having imagined Colin Firth (who played Mr Darcy in the BBC TV serial, not the movie) appearing wet-shirted from the lake on more than one ocassion. (Laura, I took a special pic for you, which you and only you shall have!)
I must confess to being shamelessly fascinated by Sheffield—as I was with plenty of things in England! The cobbled roads in the city centre were as exciting as getting lost there!
Back to Birmingham—the only place I didn’t particularly like—the next day, I caught a train to Stratford-Upon-Avon on Saturday (12 August). It was a one-hour ride like I’ve never had before! The Shakespeare tour was a tad expensive (yes, everything becomes expensive when you’re talking of sterling!), but it was exciting sitting on top of an open double-decker bus. (I must confess here that I’m pretty sure I was sold a child’s ticket! ) I didn’t have much time in Stratford, but had an entertaining time taking photographs of the barges in the canal. The Shakespeare photos did not come out too well because they were taken from a moving bus.