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Since coming to England I have wanted to see the location where the movie Pride and Prejudice was filmed and it is located in the Peak district which I have also wanted to see. It wasn’t until my last week in England that I had a chance to plan a trip up to Chatsworth house to see it. The reason it took so long for me to go is that it kind of takes a bit of work to get there. First I took a train to Chesterfield. Once in Chesterfield I had to find further transportation to Chatsworth. The bus I needed to take to the next town over didn’t leave for about an hour so I walked around the town and saw the flea market set up in the middle square. People were selling everything from books to kitchenware. It was kind of neat to see that a town still regularly holds markets like that. I found out that the markets differ varying on the day; some days have the farmer’s markets, some days have craft markets, and other days have the flea market. I also saw the twisted spire of the local cathedral. It is pretty cool because what is supposed to be normal straight point is now twisted. The spire twisted because the wood that was used to build it shrunk and made it twist into a spiral.

When the time came to catch the bus I got only knowing the name of the town I was supposed to get off in, not really what it looked like or how far away it was. I had to ask a girl on the bus to see if she would tell me when to get off. When I arrived in Baslow it was still about 1.5 miles to Chatsworth and I was lucky that there was a walking path through the park to the Chatsworth Estate. I started walking the direction a gentleman pointed and followed a sign that led past houses with thatched roofs and fields full of sheep. It didn’t take long to make the walk and it was amazing walking through the fog and the mist to see a grand house towering ahead. I went on a tour of the house first, which is still inhabited by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. I took the audio guide walking tour and listened to the explanations while I walked through the house. My favorite rooms were the entry hallway with the grand staircase and the sculpture hall. There were many period decorated rooms and there was even a room that was dedicated to the films that were produced on the Chatsworth property.

After taking the full tour of the house I went out to the gardens and saw the fountain that shoots water so high that you can see it miles away. There were also acres of gardens on the estate that had flowers, lakes, and walking trails. I spent a few hours walking around through a hedge maze, along the flower beds, and watching the many fountains. It was always like I imagined after seeing it in the movies. After spending an afternoon walking around the park I walked back through the estate to catch the bus in Baslow back to Chesterfield and then back to Leicester. It was a fun day looking around the English countryside.

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