Chatsworth

On Saturday I devoted the entire day to writing my second Jane Austen paper, and yet somehow I only got halfway through. It poured all day, so I had a good reason not to leave the house, but apparently it wasn’t a good enough reason to finish my paper. Amanda and I watched “Sense and Sensibility,” so that should count for something right? Had to get up early this morning for the Chatsworth trip. Chatsworth was definitely my favorite thing we’ve done here so far. You can check the website out at www.chatsworth-house.co.uk. It’s an old estate, belonging to the 11th Duke of Devonshire. They’re actually using the outside of the house as Pemberley in the new version of Pride and Prejudice. Which I am not happy about. The old P & P wasn’t made that long ago and ready does an amazing job of sticking to the novel, why on earth do they need to make a new one? Anyway, I was surprised that I didn’t find the inside of the house half as interesting as the outside. There was huge gardens, shrubberies, a shrubbery maze, fountains, waterfalls, ponds, etc. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died halfway through, so I wasn’t able to capture everything. I guess I’ll just have to go back someday. And a thousand apologies for not including more people in my pictures, but I kept losing everybody. There were so many different paths to take and places to go, which isn’t too surprising since back in the day the only thing ladies did while at home was take walks. And judging from my Austen books, they hardly lasted half a mile without becoming tired and having to lean on some poor guys arm. I’m currently in the middle of Mansfield Park, and all the ladies in that novel take lots of walks. And surprisingly they also consider horseback riding exercise. Aside from getting on and off the horse I really don’t see any other physical strain involved in that sport that it would need to be called exercise. Well I’m exhausted, and off to bed to dream of being mistress of something like Chatsworth.